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This chapter explores how Polish migrants in the UK construct belonging through racialised discourse, applying the Thomas Theorem to analyse how self-perceptions shape social reality. Drawing on qualitative interviews and focus groups, it reveals how migrants strategically align with the white British majority while distancing themselves from non-White minorities through both explicit claims (‘we belong as fellow whites’) and implicit coded language about belonging. While these discursive tactics help navigate multicultural Britain, they reproduce racial hierarchies that ultimately constrain migrant inclusion. Bridging psychological and sociological perspectives, the study demonstrates how belonging operates as both subjective experience and structural negotiation, with implications for understanding intra-European migration, racialisation processes, and integration policy in post-Brexit Britain. The analysis draws on qualitative data from the PhD project How Polish Catholics Become ‘Integrated’ White Christians: Race, Religion, and Discursive Integration of Polish Migrants in Britain (University of Bristol, 2024), including interviews and focus groups with Polish migrants (n = 56) conducted in Bristol between 2018 and 2019.

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‘If Polish Migrants Define Their Belonging to British Society as Real, the Belonging Is Real in Its Consequences’: Applying the Thomas Theorem to Polish Migrants’ Racialised Belonging in Britain

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  • 发表日期：

    2026年

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  • Marcin Polak

摘要

This chapter explores how Polish migrants in the UK construct belonging through racialised discourse, applying the Thomas Theorem to analyse how self-perceptions shape social reality. Drawing on qualitative interviews and focus groups, it reveals how migrants strategically align with the white British majority while distancing themselves from non-White minorities through both explicit claims (‘we belong as fellow whites’) and implicit coded language about belonging. While these discursive tactics help navigate multicultural Britain, they reproduce racial hierarchies that ultimately constrain migrant inclusion. Bridging psychological and sociological perspectives, the study demonstrates how belonging operates as both subjective experience and structural negotiation, with implications for understanding intra-European migration, racialisation processes, and integration policy in post-Brexit Britain. The analysis draws on qualitative data from the PhD project How Polish Catholics Become ‘Integrated’ White Christians: Race, Religion, and Discursive Integration of Polish Migrants in Britain (University of Bristol, 2024), including interviews and focus groups with Polish migrants (n = 56) conducted in Bristol between 2018 and 2019.