Exploring the politics of linguistic difference: the construction of language requirements for migrants in jobs traditionally conducted by local native speakers

Abstract

While linguistic difference has been identified as an organizational source of disadvantage for migrants, the construction of language requirements in relation to which these differences emerge has rarely been examined. Yet, this is key to understand the politics of difference. Taking a social constructionist approach and relying on the concept of the ideal worker, this article analyzes a case study of an organization that hires migrants for jobs that used to be conducted by local native speakers. This research shows how conflicting constructions of language requirements may emerge in relation to different contextual causal powers. This might lead migrants to be constructed as different and not different from contrasting ideal worker notions, resulting in their simultaneous inclusion and marginalization in jobs at the bottom of the labour market. Moreover, this conflict generates the notion of the ideal non-ideal worker, which may produce a hierarchical differentiation within the category of migrant workers.