The affective fields of working class among ‘Eastern European’ migrants in the UK

Abstract

Eastern European migrants’ affective relationship with the idea of working class remains poorly understood. This article demonstrates how neoliberal ideology – which shaped postsocialist change – produces certain affective class processes among Central and Eastern European migrants. Migrants often do not share class ramifications in Latvia or the UK but divert their felt class towards the notion of a better life. The article challenges the ‘East’ and ‘West’ dichotomy found in much contemporary class analysis by examining specific spatiotemporal relations, transformations and subjectivities. The qualitative data derive from my long-term (2010–2018) engagement with Latvian migrants in the UK. I offer nuanced insights into labour migrants’ affective class subjectivities at the bodily scale, spatial scale and temporal scale. This framework helps us understand how class subjectivities shape individuals and societies in Eastern Europe and beyond.