Becky Taylor

‘Everything comes down to money’?: Migration and working life trajectories in a (post-)socialist context

Abstract Using 25 life histories of Poles, this paper addresses the way in which migration has had an impact upon the trajectories of individuals’ working lives both under socialism and after 1989. In our discussion, we explore some of the connections between different waves of migration, bringing together historical and contemporary research on migration as well as engaging with current debates on post-socialism that problematize the disjuncture between socialist and post-socialist experience. Our contention here is that one way in which socialism and post-socialism might be integrated is through focusing on the experiences of individuals whose lives span these eras. We suggest that while there are continuities across the periods, there are also disjunctures created not only by the changed politico-legal context, but also through changed attitudes towards the role of migration as part of individual life trajectories.

Immigration, Statecraft and Public Health: The 1920 Aliens Order, Medical Examinations and the Limitations of the State in England

This article considers the medical measures of the 1920 Aliens Order barring aliens from Britain. Building on existing local and port public health inspection, the requirement for aliens to be medically inspected before landing significantly expanded the duties of these state agencies and necessitated the creation of a new level of physical infrastructure and administrative machinery. This article closely examines the workings and limitations of alien medical inspection in two of England’s major ports—Liverpool and London—and sheds light on the everyday working of the Act. In doing so it reflects on the ambitions, actions and limitations of the state and so extends research by historians of the nineteenth and early twentieth century on the disputed histories of public health and the complexities of statecraft. Overall it suggests the importance of developing nuanced understandings of the gaps and failures arising from the translation of legislation into practice.

Hearing difference, writing difference

Perhaps the central question at the heart of all these books can be summed up by Tony Kushner’s opening sentence, ‘How do we deal with difference?’ These volumes together show that while this difficult question remains at the heart of a troubled contemporary Britain, we must be wary of looking to history for easy answers. Delaney’s work focuses on how Irish migrants experienced and adapted to life in Britain and life as a migrant in post-war society, themes were also explored for various migrant groups in the collection edited by Burrell and Panayi. Kushner’s own work considers this question from the opposite perspective and assesses how the British dealt with issues of difference and ‘race’ in the mid-twentieth century. This is also

The Welfare State and the ‘Deviant Poor’ in Europe, 1870–1933. Edited by Beate Althammer, Andreas Gestrich and Jens Grundler

(2015). The Welfare State and the ‘Deviant Poor’ in Europe, 1870–1933. Edited by Beate Althammer, Andreas Gestrich and Jens Grundler. Cultural and Social History: Vol. 12, No. 2, pp. 274-276.

Is nomadism the ‘problem’?:The social construction of Gypsies and Travellers as perpetrators of ‘anti-social’ behaviour in Britain

When it comes to defining and theorizing ‘anti-social’ behaviour in relation to Gypsies and Travellers in Britain, there is no shortage of historical and contemporary sources.1 Today, in the Houses of Parliament and on the front pages of tabloid newspapers, in small town council meetings or live talk-show radio programmes, everyone seems to have a view to share on the ‘problems’ caused by Gypsies and Travellers and their ‘anti-social’ behaviours. Wherever and whenever a new Gypsy site is in development or a roadside encampment appears on the outskirts of town, a well-worn accusatory list of ‘anti-social behaviours’ — litter, tax avoidance, noise, crime, welfare fraud, illiteracy and truancy — is circulated and signed (Clark and Cemlyn, 2005; Clark and Greenfields, 2006). It is accurate to state that the vast majority of views are overwhelmingly negative when it comes to public discourses about Gypsies and Travellers (Powell, 2007; Richardson, 2006). Behind statements of their inherent asociality, lies a deep suspicion about their (presumed) mobility, with their marginalization regarded as a ‘natural’ consequence of their nomadism and perceived lack of ‘attachment’ to ‘fixed’ local geographies (Shubin and Swanson, 2010).