Motivational diversity and the sense of ill-treatment back home among the UK’s migrant workers from Turkey: A cross-intersectional approach

Abstract

Drawing on unstructured interviews, the present article examines the motivations behind the migration of workers from Turkey as an under-researched community in Britain. For this, a cross-intersectional approach is developed. Intersectional evidence suggests that motivations are informed by both economic and social factors. In particular, economic ambitions have become considerably variegated in recent years, but added to these are non-economic motivations within spatial, ethnic/religious and gender/sexuality domains as well as human capital considerations. These also give a dynamism to migrants’ motivations. Even so, one should go beyond intersectionality for a fuller account. A sense of ill-treatment back home occasionally turns out to be an inextricable component across both economic and non-economic motivations whilst causing prolonged stays. Unpleasant experiences reported by the majority of participants largely reflect policy deficiencies in Turkey. Addressing them could have potential implications for more sustainable migration controls by encouraging returns and easing the search for a better life abroad.