Shifting migration aspirations in second modernity

Abstract

This article explores the aspirations of Western European emigrants as part of wider processes of life course and self-development within what has been called 'second modernity'. Starting from the observation that migration often happens in stages, the article focuses on the changing meaning and content of aspirations within migratory projects. Furthermore, in order to understand the specific place chosen for migration, a multi-scalar approach is proposed. The analysis is based on two empirical studies addressing migration experiences of Austrians migrating to the United States during the 1990s and 2000s. The empirical material is drawn from qualitative interviews that explore the aspirations, realisations and evaluations of migrants after moving abroad. The article concludes by highlighting the importance of situating aspirations for migration to on-going broader societal changes by applying theoretical concepts such as second modernity and multi-scalar approaches. Migrants' experiences and meaningmaking are shaped by these societal developments and contribute to them via their everyday activities.

Aspiration, desire and drivers of migration

“…All of the articles in this special issue can be seen in this light. They address the generation and sustenance of migration as something that is distributed across borders, in transnational social and economic linkages (Carling and Schewel 2018;Collins 2018;Erdal and Oeppen 2018;Van Hear, Bakewell, and Long 2018) or within migration's imaginative dimensions as they are constituted across borders (Meyer 2018;Scheibelhofer 2018;Yang 2018). In perspective, the figure of the migrant as an autonomous agent located in one place is disrupted by an emphasis on migrants as situated in social fields that cross borders and play a role in enabling and shaping migration processes and outcomes.…”

“…Methodologically, too, feminist interventions have been pivotal in establishing the value of migrants' stories about themselves (Lawson 2000). This material has broadened our understanding of migration so as to acknowledge the less determinate features of moving and its embeddedness in power relations and politics (see Collins 2018;Meyer 2018;Scheibelhofer 2018).…”

Exploring methodological approaches to assess climate change vulnerability and adaptation: reflections from using life history approaches

“…Aspirations are examined in poverty and social mobility studies (Ray 2006) but seldom discussed in CCVA research (Rao et al 2020). Understood as 'conceptions of how human beings engage their own futures' (Appadurai 2004: 33), aspirations are integral to livelihood decisions such as whether to migrate or not (Suckall et al 2016;Scheibelhofer 2017), changing labour practices and social norms (Punch and Sugden 2013), and when dealing with socio-ecological transitions in rural areas (Rigg 2006).…”

Modeling American Migration Aspirations: How Capital, Race, and National Identity Shape Americans’ Ideas about Living Abroad

“…According to Scheibelhofer (2018), aspirations are "hopes, plans, ambitions or goals that can be clearly formulated or kept rather vague" (2) and that simultaneously address both the present and the future. Scheibelhofer, studying Austrians, argues that aspirations are not purely situational but instead "rather enduring" in their influence over an individual's life course.…”

“…Why study Americans’ migration aspirations? Because the number of Americans living abroad is growing, yet this group remains understudied, even as the utility of studying migration aspirations has been demonstrated in other Global North contexts (Van Dalen and Henkens 2013; Scheibelhofer 2018; Williams et al 2018). In 2016, the US Department of State estimated that approximately nine million US citizens lived abroad, equivalent to 3 percent of the total US citizen population and a substantial increase over its prior estimates of 7.6 million in 2013 and 6.3 million in 2012 (Klekowski von Koppenfels 2014, 32).…”