„Metų Financial Times straipsnis: „Kodėl švedai gauna geresnius darbus nei lietuviai“.“
„Parašytas akylaus brito, tačiau atliepia ir mano patirtį JAV. Turėtinas omeny verkšlenant „kodėl Vakarai mūsų neklauso“ dėl Rusijos: aukšto statuso žmonių akyse lietuviui labiau pritinka žuvų darinėjimas, ne svieto aiškinimas.“
„Sutrumpintas vertimas:
Žinome apie diskriminaciją dėl lyties ar rasės, o čia – apie diskriminaciją tautybės pagrindu. […] Ji egzistuoja kiekviename globaliame mieste ir tarptautinėje darbovietėje. Diskriminacija tautybės pagrindu tik iš dalies persidengia su rasine diskriminacija: juodaodis amerikietis turės aukštesnį statusą už ganietį, lygiai kaip švedas bus aukščiau už lietuvį. Ši nutylėta tautybių hierarchija iškreipia daugelio mūsų gyvenimus.“
„Pagrindinė mintis: tautybė yra traktuojama kaip įgūdis. […] „brazilas futbolininkas“ […] „prancūzas virtuvės šefas“ ar „Tibeto vienuolis“. Tautybė įkūnija autoritetą, įgimtą polinkį profesijai, nepriklausomai nuo individo gebėjimų. […]“
„Visi mes iš dalies esame savo šalies prekės ženklai. […] Norite dirbti viešbučio registratoriumi? Jūsų švediškumas siųs signalą, kad gebate draugiškai ir maloniai aptarnauti klientus. Norite dirbti žuvų išdarinėtoju? Jūsų lietuviškumas nuramins darbdavius, kad sunkiai dirbsite ir nesiskųsite dėl viršvalandžių.“
„Žmogus su „neteisinga“ tautybe negali lengvai pereiti į jo talentus atitinkantį darbą. […]“
„[…] Vyras iš aukšto statuso šalies – visų pirma iš JAV ar Jungtinės Karalystės – yra kviečiamas paaiškinti pasaulį. Vyrui iš žemo statuso šalies suteikiama galimybė paaiškinti savo šalį. Moteris iš žemo statuso šalies geriausiu atveju kviečiama paaiškinti moterų situaciją savo šalyje.“
„Aukšto statuso tautybės vertinamos už gebėjimą integruotis į aukšto statuso darbovietes, o žemesnio statuso tautybės vertinamos už galimybę jas išnaudoti, kaip airiai būdavo išnaudojami Didžiojoje Britanijoje. Norvegijos žuvų darinėjimo gamyklos vadovas giria lenkus ir lietuvius: „Niekada nebūna nusiskundimų, jei jie turi dirbti papildomas tris valandas“.“
Komentarai
„Why Swedes get better jobs than Lithuanians
In his new book Inside Qatar, the anthropologist John McManus gets a Nepali barista in Doha to explain the Gulf state’s hierarchy. “Who’s at the top?” asks the author. “Of course, the Qatari,” replies the barista. “Second, European countries and the US. Third, other Arab countries and nationalities.” And at the bottom? “Always Nepal, India, Sri Lanka.” As McManus suggests, that may be missing a layer: “All security guards are black Africans.”
We’re familiar with the notions of gender and racial discrimination, but what’s being described here is nationality discrimination. It’s at its most naked and unabashed in Qatar, partly because the whole world meets there. But it exists in every global city and international workplace. Nationality discrimination only partly overlaps with racial discrimination: a black American will generally have higher status than a Ghanaian, just as a Swede ranks higher than a Lithuanian. This unspoken hierarchy of nationalities distorts many of our life paths.
The basic idea is that nationality is treated as a skill. The author Alex Bellos writes: “The phrase ‘Brazilian soccer player’ is like the phrases ‘French chef’ or ‘Tibetan monk’. The nationality expresses an authority, an innate vocation for the job — whatever the natural ability.” A Brazilian footballer will therefore be valued above an equally good Mexican, while a German engineer will get hired faster than a Guatemalan.
All of us are, in part, our national brands. Our nationality is the first thing that many potential employers see in us. The academics Jon Horgen Friberg and Arnfinn H Midtbøen write in their study of the Norwegian hotel and fish-processing industries: “Applying for a job as a hotel receptionist? Your ‘Swedishness’ may signal the ability to provide friendly and pleasant service. Applying for a job as a fish packer? Being Lithuanian assures employers that you will work hard and not complain about long hours.”
Someone with the ‘wrong’ nationality cannot easily jump to a job that matches their talents
Someone with the “wrong” nationality cannot easily jump to a job that matches their talents. One Norwegian hotel manager told Friberg and Midtbøen about a former receptionist of Turkish origin: “She was diligent, polite, answering mails and helping guests. Still, she never received any positive guest feedback. So she asks me, ‘What’s wrong?’ I had to tell her, ‘You know what, this just doesn’t work. You do everything right, but it’s just too close and personal for you.’” He moved her to a backstage role.
Another Norwegian hotelier explained his hiring of technical-support workers to help run conferences: “They have to be able to calm people down and inspire confidence . . . So these workers are usually Norwegian, or at least from Sweden. We have had talented foreigners applying — university students from Africa or whatever — but that would create uncertainty, so we can’t do that.” These cases are a mix of racial and nationality discrimination.
Even when people of different-status nationalities do identical work, their pay can diverge. In the private sector in the United Arab Emirates, in the same jobs, “Western expatriates tend to make more than Arab expatriates, who tend to make more than south Asian expatriates,” write the academics Angela T Maitner and Jamie DeCoster. Westerners, explains McManus, get paid partly for their skin colour and “the ability to bullshit the role of ‘expert’.”
In my own sector, punditry, the man from a high-status country — above all, until now, the US or UK — is invited to explain the world. The man from a low-status country gets to explain his country. The woman from a low-status country is at best invited to explain the situation of women in her country. Similar dynamics have played out over Ukraine. Traditionally, it was Russians or high-status westerners who got to interpret the country to the world. Even now, Ukrainian views risk being dismissed as partial or emotional. The historian Timothy Snyder says: “It seems to me that that’s a kind of imperialism, when you say, ‘I can see reality and you can’t see reality because you’re a small unimportant country.’”
High-status nationalities are valued for their ability to fit into high-status workplaces, but lower-status nationalities are valued for their exploitability, as Irish labourers used to be in Britain. Here’s a manager of a Norwegian fish factory praising Poles and Lithuanians: “There are never any complaints if they have to work three hours extra.” Yet national hierarchies can change. As Poland has grown richer, and Polish immigrants have got accustomed to Norway, they will probably become more confident in claiming their right to sick days.
How to get rid of nationality discrimination? As with all kinds of discrimination, step one is to see it. Anyone who recruits labour needs to learn to recognise and correct their unconscious assumptions that Nationality X is the right “fit” for a job while Nationality Y isn’t.“
„Iš daugiametės patirties tarptautinėse bendruomenėse konstatuočiau, kad lietuviai ne iš lietuviškos sistemos mikliai periminėja “aukšto statuso” visuomenių praktikas, manierizmus, žodyną ir tt. Gal kažkiek trūksta vertybinio automatizmo, kuriuo kliautųsi aplinka, nuspėjamumo. Pvz, na, neims danas nei cento tokiomis aplinkybėmis kaip “čekučių skandalas”. Toks pasitikėjimo statusas yra siekiamybė, nemanau, kad tolima.“
„dėl estų (praleidau ten 3 metus) vis tik yra ir mentaliteto, minėto pasitikėjimo kreditas. Jau 1999 policija neėmė kyšių. Arba bauda, arba pasigailėdavo. Aukštas savigarbos ir tarpusavio pasitikėjimo koficientas.“