Micro labour, ambivalence and discomfort: how people without a migration background strategically engage with difference in a majority–minority neighbourhood

Abstract

ABSTRACT In contemporary West European cities, people without migration background are increasingly faced with a new demographic reality in which they have become a numerical minority in the neighbourhood. This majority–minority make-up calls for an understanding of how people without migration background partake in the reciprocal practice of ‘living together with difference’, within this new reality. Drawing on interviews conducted in Amsterdam, we show a rather complex picture, including both avoidance of difference, as well as the small, strategic, quotidian ‘work’ some people put into their engagement, that we call: micro labour. With this micro labour lens, we further the discussion on conviviality, by identifying two forms of labour performed by people without migration background: managing conflict and adapting to difference. We show that micro labour remains a messy practice: it is infused with ambivalence, discomfort and is always implicated in power dynamics.