‘The plan is no plan’: ontological security and resilience of Ukrainian refugees in the Czech labour market

• Authors: Lucie Macková , Nikola Medová , Barbora Frličková , Luděk Jirka
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

After 24 February 2022, tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine fled to the Czech Republic. The war disrupted their lives, and their future status remains unclear. This article utilises 19 semistructured interviews with highly skilled Ukrainian refugees in different parts of the Czech Republic. It focuses on their ontological security and migration aspirations and, according to these theoretical implications, identifies the key elements that make participants’ lives insecure and limit their position in the Czech labour market. This study explores the uncertainties and resilience associated with temporary protection status and other obstacles, such as proficiency in the Czech language, family ties, the temporality of one’s stay, the feeling of ‘home’ in Ukraine, perceived xenophobia and discrimination. These factors cause unpredictability about the future and their position in the labour market. The result is downwards social mobility, which lowers migration aspirations in the sense of a better life in the Czech Republic.

Keywords

EN

migration; aspirations; ontological security; social mobility; Ukraine

Discipline

• SOCIOLOGY: SOCIOLOGY

• Publisher: Institute of Sociology, Czech Academy of Sciences
• Journal: Sociologický časopis. Czech Sociological Review
• Year: 2025
• Volume: 61
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 65-86
• Document type: ARTICLE

Contributors

author

Lucie Macková

• Sociologický časopis, redakce, Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Jilská 1, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic

author

Nikola Medová

• Sociologický časopis, redakce, Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Jilská 1, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic

author

Barbora Frličková

• Sociologický časopis, redakce, Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Jilská 1, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic

author

Luděk Jirka

• Sociologický časopis, redakce, Sociologický ústav AV ČR, v.v.i., Jilská 1, 110 00 Praha 1, Czech Republic