‘For a Secure and Stable Life’: Constructing Life Satisfaction in the ‘Migratory Careers’ of Russian Immigrant Physicians in Finland

Abstract

This article investigates the subjective life satisfaction of Russian immigrant physicians in Finland. It focuses on how life satisfaction is subjectively experienced and interpreted post migration in a bid to identify the resources which influence it in both work and family domains. The advantage of life satisfaction is taking it as a unifying cross-disciplinary conceptual framework and as a multidimensional analytical approach, including macro-societal, meso-relational, and micro-personal levels. We use the concept of the migratory career to analyse work and family life on migration journeys. These life evaluations are analysed using a sociological conception of subjective life satisfaction and a psychological conception of wellbeing as guiding principles in theory and analysis. Based on 26 semi-structured qualitative interviews, the study finds that an interplay between societal-structural and personal-relational resources makes the interviewees satisfied with their work and family lives. Societal-structural resources included the work environment, income, life security and stability, while personal-relational resources included social support, social trust, and family relationships. Beyond the classical income and job security, we find our participants’ experienced and interpreted life satisfaction is essentially associated with outcomes of family-friendly and supportive work conditions. Moreover, social and personal security and family stability are important for their quality of life in a characteristic Nordic social environment.

Keywords

• subjective life satisfaction
• migratory career
• russian immigrant physicians
• resources
• work and family domains
• qualitative approach