Agnieszka Kubal, Research Officer at the International Migration Institute, launched her book at the IMI Seminar on Wednesday 28 November. The event was widely attended by researchers and colleagues from Migration studies and Law departments. Local policy makers and journalists interested in the Eastern European migration to the UK were also present in the audience. The event was possible thanks to the support of IMI.
Short synopsis of the book:
Acknowledging the superdiversity of migration as a global issue, the Socio-Legal Integration uses the case study of Polish migrants to examine their relationship with the legal system in the UK. The book was based on extensive, one year fieldwork among the migrant community consisting of interviews, observations and focus groups. With wider international relevance than just Poland and the UK it contributed fresh insights into how empirical legal scholars can draw on social theory. It demonstrated that a more comprehensive insight into the socio-legal integration of migrants is possible when we combine in the analysis the structural factors of the host country's legal environment, migrants' agency and the culturally derived values, attitudes, behaviour and social expectations towards the law and its enforcement - essentially the legal culture.
The book received positive reviews and attention in the international media; an interview with the author featured on the main page of a leading European news portal Onet.eu (receiving 1.5m page-views per day).