Lost in translation: A Bourdieusian perspective on cross-national occupational cultures, as revealed by employees’ visible consumption patterns

Globalization and liberalisation have increased international economic migration flows, including rising numbers of professional/managerial workers. Immigrants often experience low returns on their credentials and competencies, owing to their outsider status and imperfect fit with the new country’s cultural norms and values. Thus, what is considered an ideal “portfolio” of capital forms in their source country may be less valuable in the host nation. Using the perspective of Pierre Bourdieu, we examine one potentially important cause of poor outcomes for immigrant professionals – mismatches between the forms of capital prized in their country of origin, and in their host nation. Using quantitative evidence on different types of visible expenditure (signalling capitals and status) from the British household expenditure survey (secure version) and the European Household Budget Surveys (Eurostat), we find strong commonalities in preferred forms of capital for four professional/managerial occupations in two “mature capitalism” nations, Britain, and France. Conversely, these are less pronounced for the same occupations in Hungary, reflecting its status as a transition economy with an inherited egalitarian culture. This implies that migrants from Eastern Europe may find their “capitals” substantially discounted by West European employers, who judge it by their own national benchmarks. Understandings about what are the “right capitals” in the professional domain may differ by national context, as country-bound professional ethos, determined by the institutional setting, defines the relative value of these competencies in local professional networks. Our research also has implications for international careers, multinationals’ staffing practices and cross-national economic migration.