Fluid yet sticky? Exploring social class through the lens of transnational migration

This article draws on original interviews with Polish migrants in the United Kingdom to address a critical gap in social class research, arguing that class is a fluid yet sticky category. Drawing on Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology of class and Floya Anthias’ intersectional approach, it advocates for a nuanced, transnational understanding of social class and positionalities. The class positions of Polish migrants in the United Kingdom are coproduced through the entanglement of racial and classed imaginaries, among other factors. Despite their phenotypical and self-identified whiteness, these migrants face challenges to their own class identities. Their aspirations for social advancement in the United Kingdom, grounded in the meritocratic ideal, clash with the barriers they linked to racialization and other forms of discrimination. The relative marginalization of social class in migration studies parallels its broader neglect in debates surrounding belonging. Offering an expanded migration lens, this article argues that not only is social class shaped by interconnected, dynamic factors constituting a foundational dimension of lived experience in a transnational context, it exhibits duality: It is inherently volatile and yet sticky.