From Humanists to Patrons: Interclass Relations and Elite Acculturation among Western Migrants in the UAE

• In Event: 2231 - Cultural Distinction, Taste, and Intergroup Relations among Elites

Abstract

How do professional class migrants adjust to an adopted host country society and culture? Sociologists of migration have been overwhelmingly focused on the processes by and degree to which lower- and working-class migrants do or do not assimilate, acculturate, and incorporate into host country societies, but the movement of elite and professional class persons across national borders for economic gain, social advancement, or imperial adventure has been both historically consistent and sociologically consequential. This paper uses 45 in-depth interviews with Western professional class workers in the city of Abu Dhabi, UAE to illustrate the ways in which one particular dimension of host country everyday social life – one’s orientation towards and treatment of lower status workers – can serve as a mechanism for acculturation into a host country elite culture. While earlier-stage professional class migrants generally demonstrate a style of “humanism” towards lower-status workers, focusing on expressing warmth and kindness in personal interactions, later-stage expatriates engage with “patronage,” a style of interclass relation defined by the provision of significant and sizeable financial support to workers beyond their official salaries. Not only do these styles differ in their association with length of time in country, but they also vary in what I term their “cultural integrity,” the degree to which the styles are used comfortably and confidently by their associated migrant cohort. These findings suggest a process by which professional class migrants are acculturated into a host county culture elite through the adoption of locally dominant styles of interclass relations.

Author

• John O'Brien, NYU Abu Dhabi