Alexandra Ďurčová, Migrant workers as source of new ethnic stereotypes - The case of Slovak caregivers in Austria

The general research topic is a social categorisation process and conditions that determine stereotyping of essencialised and non-essencialised social groups. With the basic premise about ethnicity not being an inner quality but a socialy constructed category, the project focuses on the impacts of growing migration and a new multicultural face of european cities on conceptualisation of ethnic groups within the interactive urban environment. The transfornmation of the ethnic structure of the city and new ways of coexistence result in transformations in perceiving the others and thus creating new kinds stereotyping patterns. The aim of this project is to investigate the principles of categorization and stereotyping in case of Slovak caregivers in Vienna.
In the last decade, the position of a caregiver in Austrian households has gone through signifficant changes. In contrast to common status of migrant workers who are often perceived in a negative way by the citizens due to their “foreignness”, there is a growing demand for caregivers resulting from the current population trends in Austria. While at the beginning of 2000’s “pendling”(work practice including regular moving from Slovakia to Austria in one-week or two-week periods) was a “not so visible” working practice common especially in western parts of Slovakia near Austrian border, it is now a whole country phenomena. It became a distinct profession organized by specialized agencies. Two years ago, it was officially recognized work position by the Austrian government and it is now being incorporated into the social system of the both countries.
What are the categorization principles in this specific reciprocal relation and how are they interconnected with other dimensions of increased migration and change of ethnic structure of the city of Vienna? Interviewing the Slovak caregivers in Austrian families in Bratislava and Vienna, we will try to find some answers to the stated question.