Transnational Mobility, Social Mobility and Subjectivity: EU Migrants in the UK

This paper is broadly concerned with the following questions: how do migrants situate themselves reflectively in their new social settings, and how does this impact on their social mobility? There is much disagreement in the field about the determinants and consequences of migration on the individuals involved in the process. Various explanations have been proposed, ranging from neo-classical macro-theory focusing on migrant gravitation from low-income countries to high-income countries, to neo-classical micro-theory focusing on individual decisions, to network theory where this form of social capital is seen to maximise benefits, while reducing the negative psychological effects of migration. Investigations into the consequences of migration have considered economic aspects, looking at remittances or at labour markets, or explored issues concerning social and political integration of migrants. The paper draws substantially on Margaret Archer’s work concerning human subjectivity, proposing that individuals derive courses of action on the basis of reflexive assessments of their own positioning in relation to structural conditionings. Thus, the type of reflexivity displayed by migrants impacts how they socialize in the host country. This, in turn, impacts directly on the opportunities and constraints that emerge in relation to their social mobility. The argument draws on empirical evidence obtained from qualitative, in-depth interviews with EU labour migrants in the UK. It investigates patterns in the way migrants negotiate reflexively their own social settings, and identifies the kinds of barriers to social mobility that emerge out of these dynamics.