Review
At the beginning of the 21st century, we are witnessing the birth of a new intra-European mobility phenomenon: a young and highly qualified population from the most vulnerable areas of the continent moving from their countries of origin towards European regions with enhanced professional development.
In response to this, David Cairns, senior researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies in Sociology at Lisbon University, presents Youth on the Move: European Youth and Geographical Mobility, one of the few books that exclusively examines the mobility patterns of European youth. Composed of nine scholarly articles, the book explores the different aspects of geographical mobility of contemporary European youth. Nevertheless, the scope of this book is not as ambitious as the title suggests. It makes an explicit reference to ‘European youth’ but in practice, most articles examine young Portuguese mobility rather than the wider European frame, underrepresenting a variety of other countries. This problem is built into the fabric of the book, as most of the contributions were delivered at a conference, also entitled Youth on the Move?, at the Institute of Social Sciences at the University of Lisbon (ICS-UL) on September 21, 2007. While the focus on Portugal does not reduce the academic validity of their arguments, it needs to be taken into consideration for data interpretation.
Five interesting approaches have been taken in order to address the different contributions: identity and belonging, decision-making process, labor integration, mobility in science and the consequences of progressive youth migration in Europe.
Identity and belonging
In ‘New perspectives on youth and migration’, Thomas Geisen presents an interesting development of the concepts of belonging, social mobility and cultural repositioning in relation to young European migrants. Several years ago, a young immigrant was the exception that proved the rule of sedentary lifestyle. Nowadays, young migrants undertake the challenge of belonging to a majority, represented by the host country, but also a minority, as immigrants. Such a situation necessarily modifies the sense of belonging. The concept of cultural repositioning is related to the individual interrelation, transformation and adaptation to these different social identities. In this sense, multiculturalism can be presented as a source of ‘identity turbulence’ (Dietz 2003).
This discussion is followed by ‘Temporary youth migration and European identity’. By means of a small-scale survey, Marion Hauvette discusses the characteristics of young migrants’ identities as well as the effects of these newly acquired identities. Moreover, there is indeed a sense of belonging to Europe, but it is still far from becoming a European identity.
The last contribution to this discussion about identity is introduced by Inés Pessoa in ‘“Cosmopolitan” Portuguese youth: The world as home after the Macao migratory experience’. Pessoa sets the impact of identity changes arising from Portuguese emigration to Macao. It opens a space of reflexion to discuss cultural contributions of host countries. The author claims that the main effects of the post-immigration period are related not only to a socio-economic status but also to cultural-symbolic factors and social identity. In addition, she introduces the concept of cosmopolitanism, related to attitudes such as respect, openness, flexibility and reflexibility towards cultural diversity. These skills are developed and powered by the multiplicative effect of migration flows. Once the individual has experienced mobility, it is then translated into a desire for remaining in motion. As well, Hauvette adds the concept of internationally-oriented education. It involves changes in young immigrants’ personality, strengthening characteristics such as curiosity, sociability, independence, open-mindedness or intercultural tolerance. However, this does not apply to all countries, or at least, not to the same extent. Moreover, one important aspect is greatly omitted in the discussion of young migrants’ identities: age. In recent years, age has provoked an identity disorder: social roles as well as the social conventions around age have changed. Yet, who is (migrant) youth in reality? Where can we set the age limits?
The decision-making process
Contextual or individual factors can influence the decision to emigrate. In this approach, Katarzyna Growiec contributes with ‘Capital and migration: The case of Polish youth’, a case study of Polish young migration that explores the social capital in transnational mobility. Through an exhaustive quantitative analysis, Growiec presents a study on the influences of kin and non-kin ties in the decision-making process. The study suggests that non-kin members of social networks encourage young people to move abroad, while kin members reduce it. The relevance of family ties and community attachment is also supported by David Cairns and Nina Clara Tiesler in ‘Across difference: Portuguese Muslim youth as Portuguese youth? A study about the lives of young Muslims in Portugal’, in terms of their Portuguese identities and their status as Muslims. This study is perhaps the most distant from the main topic, because it does not discuss youth mobility in a specific way. Likewise, David Cairns and Jim Smyth contribute with ‘Youth on the move? Student mobility and immobility in Portugal and Northern Ireland’ that introduced a new aspect: not only the European youth motivations to emigrate, but also what encourages them to stay in their home countries.
However, is also necessary to point out the forced or voluntary character of this kind of mobility. The nature of migration depends not only on the context but also on the perceptions of the phenomenon. In a context of economic crisis, where rising unemployment has caused the departure of thousands of young Europeans seeking career opportunities and where employment opportunities simply do not exist, it is necessary to question the voluntary nature of migration (Ackers 2005). It is not a forced mobility – perhaps induced – but certainly not encouraged since most migration is spurred by individual initiatives not tied to political or official exchange programmes. In this sense, personal contacts are a key factor for finding work abroad (Eurobarometer 2010).
Labour integration
The third topic is uniquely addressed by ‘Labour market integration of young migrants in Germany’. Annette Haas and Andreas Damelang developed the concept of labor integration of young immigrants in relation to native German youth. This contribution suggests that there are employment integration differences between young immigrants according to their country of origin. It reveals the weaknesses and future challenges of social integration policies but provides little new information about the labour status of those European migrants.
Mobility in science
The next topic is introduced by Ana Delicado in ‘Young Portuguese researchers abroad: Preliminary results of a survey’. This article presents mobility in science as a specific phenomenon due to the nomadic nature of the academic profession. Through a case study on young Portuguese researchers abroad, Delicado provides interesting data on the nature of the phenomenon: a large percentage of respondents (81 percent) responded that it was not their first time migrating abroad. This would confirm the multiplier effect of migration flows pointed out by Pessoa. Also noteworthy is the high percentage (97 percent) of academic migrants who still maintain contact with their home institutions in contrast with the low rate of return (54 percent).
In this sense, it is also necessary to assess potential negative impacts for countries of origin that lose their highly qualified youth: human capital flight, more commonly referred as ‘brain drain’. Some authors support promoting changes in science and research that encourage exchange but that do not generate intra-European scientific asymmetry (Alaminos, Albert & Santacreu 2010). This suggests the existence of a political and economic compound that challenges the European ‘free movement’ concept. Also disputed is the concept of ‘science internationalization’, since there are clear benefits to English-speaking regions and researchers (Ackers 2010).
Consequences of emigration
Following this discussion, João Queirós introduces the approach of emigration consequences. In ‘Recent economic performance and changing configurations of workforce mobility in Northwest Portugal: Social consequences of unemployment and the rise of youth emigration’, Queirós exposes, among other issues, demographic changes , economic factors and identity disorders, as discussed above.
Youth on the Move meets the general goals of exploring different aspects of the European youth mobility, helping to fill the cognitive vacuum around this phenomenon. As usually happens with compilations of academic articles, some items will be more attractive than others depending on the reader’s interests. However, the compilation provides different methods of analysis of social reality that can generate ideas for future research. Moreover, it is important to note that the flexibility of this format allows a contemporaneity that could not be offered by other kinds of publications.
Mobility or migration? I would like to leave this question up in the air. Both terms are used interchangeably in the book and this review. Although often mainly distinguished by temporal factors, there is no unanimous agreement, since migration by definition does not have to be permanent. Because of its temporary nature, young intra-European mobility has been systematically ignored by most mobility and European immigration studies. In this sense, Youth on the move serves as a valuable tool to detect emerging trends in young European mobility, but not a bound reference manual.
References
Ackers, L. (2005) ‘Moving People and Knowledge: Scientific Mobility in the European Union’, International Migration, 43 (5): 99-131.
Alaminos, A., Albert, M.C & Santacreu, O. (2010) ‘La movilidad social de los emigrantes españoles en Europa’, Revista Española de Investigaciones Sociológicas (Reis), 129: 13-35.
Cairns, D. (Ed.) (2010) Youth on the move. European Youth and Geographical Mobility. Wiesbaden, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften.
Dietz, G. (2003) Multiculturalismo, Interculturalidad y Educación: Una aproximación antropológica. Granada, Editorial Universidad de Granada.
European Commission (2010), Special Eurobarometer 337, <http://ec.europa.eu/public_opinion/archives/ebs/ebs_337_en.pdf>
Tags: Review