Mobility, Flexible Lifestyles and Cosmopolitanism: EU Postgraduates in Manchester

Abstract

Some commentators on globalisation and migration have suggested that a growing number of young, educated individuals regard moving overseas as a vehicle for pursing their project of self-realisation, whether imagined in terms of promoting careers or of the search for adventure and cultural variety or both. Drawing on the experiences of skilled migrants from EU countries living in Manchester, the paper examines the motives which induced them to migrate and suggests that economic constraints were often equally as or more significant in propelling them overseas and in influencing their choice of destination than their personal preferences. The paper then argues that their actual experiences abroad became much more significant to their life trajectories than earlier decisions. Most were propelled towards cosmopolitanism and greater world openness because of their exposure to, and involvement in, post-national relationships and intercultural encounters. Although these tended to push them even further away from their original national origins, thereby creating more scope for re-constructing a chosen life path, they also left them more exposed to, and dependent upon, these new relationships and cosmopolitan influences.

Imagining ‘non-nationality’: Cosmopolitanism as a source of identity and belonging

“…Mobility is considered particularly significant (Szerszynski and Urry, 2006) and can include actual, potential and virtual mobility as well as the travel of commodities, cultural ideas and technologies (Urry, 2007). In the case of transnational professionals, geographical movements -whether temporary, semi-permanent or permanent -play a key role as a condition of cosmopolitan identity formation (ColicPeisker, 2010;Daskalaki, 2012;Elliott and Urry, 2010;Kennedy, 2010). …”

Polish Migration to Ireland: ‘Free Movers’ in the New European Mobility Space

“…While the number of EU citizens living abroad remains relatively low, it has steadily increased in the last two decades. This is no longer an 'elite migration' of a few, as the opportunity to move across the EU also appeals to middle-class individuals wishing to enhance their economic or cultural capital (Kennedy 2010;Recchi 2006: 76). Although some issues*such as the portability of pension rights*remain, the EU has evolved into a transnational social space with the right to free movement at its core (Donaghy and Teague 2006).…”

“…So far the debate on 'free movers' has mainly focused on mobile Europeans from the 'old' EU-15 (Favell 2008b;Kennedy 2010;Recchi and Favell 2009). For these migrants, non-economic motives such as 'quality of life' and 'family and love' are said to be equally as important as work-related reasons.…”

Researching migrants’ diverse social relationships: From ethnic to cosmopolitan sociability?

“…Cross-ethnic exchanges are common amongst non-elite, often vulnerable, migrants too, as analyses of migrant workers in the Gulf (Werbner 1999), Bangladeshi and Senegalese street traders in Barcelona (Kothari 2008) or Polish construction workers in London (Datta 2009) aptly demonstrate (see also Glick Schiller et al 2011;Hannerz 2004). Cosmopolitanism has also been a recurrent feature of the experience of 'middling' migrants, often young, educated people, whose mobility is partly 5 motivated by cosmopolitan aspirations or leads to the development of cosmopolitan ties and identities, as illustrated by the experience of Tamil students in the UK (Jones 2013), Romanians in London (Moroşanu 2013), other EU graduates and professionals moving to various European cities (Favell 2008;Kennedy 2010) or Canadian consultants and youth travellers, whose journeys abroad could bring excitement and self-transformation, alongside professional gain (Amit 2015).…”