What the study found
The study finds that migrant worker inclusion in late-Soviet Moscow was shaped by labor-based conditionality, meaning access to civic inclusion depended on work performance and compliance. State-owned enterprises acted as migration intermediaries and helped enforce this system. The author also finds that civic campaigns from the early 1960s gave managers and officials a framework for governing migrant workers in dormitories.
Why the authors say this matters
The author concludes that the case extends scholarship on migrant deservingness beyond neoliberal Western settings and into a socialist context. The findings indicate that conditionality for civic inclusion developed under socialism as well, not only after the neoliberal changes associated with contemporary citizenship.
What the researchers tested
The paper examines migrant “limit” worker management in Moscow from the early 1960s to 1987. It uses archival materials to study how state-owned enterprises, dormitory managers, union officials, and state officials managed migrant workers. The analysis focuses on how civic campaigns, material resources, and dormitory conditions were used in that governance.
What worked and what didn't
The study reports that civic campaigns provided both ideology and material support for enterprise control over migrant workers. Managers and officials redirected resources meant for social activism and cultural tutelage toward baseline productivity and compliance. The paper also finds that dormitory conditions were used in place of direct assessments of migrants’ moral and productive status.
What to keep in mind
The findings are based on one case: migrant worker management in Moscow between the early 1960s and 1987. The abstract does not describe comparative cases or broader limitations beyond that scope.
Key points
- State-owned enterprises enforced labor-based conditions for migrant inclusion in late-Soviet Moscow.
- Civic campaigns in the early 1960s helped provide the framework for governing migrant workers in dormitories.
- Resources intended for social activism and cultural tutelage were redirected toward productivity and compliance.
- Dormitory conditions were used as a substitute for judging individual migrants’ moral and productive status.
- The author argues this expands research on migrant deservingness into a socialist context.
Disclosure
- Research title:
- Moscow migrant inclusion depended on labor-based conditionality
- Authors:
- Jeffrey Bilik
- Institutions:
- University of Michigan
- Publication date:
- 2026-01-12
- OpenAlex record:
- View
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