Active Migration: Towards Cosmopolitics and ‘Sociology of Motion’

Comment by Danai Krokou: I felt a new title was necessary to start anew. I didn’t like the initial title I had used. Frankly speaking, it was quite dull. I prefer more abstract titles, as they allow more space for expression. I hope that this one will be acceptable for a theory-based PhD. One question here. Since the very beginning I’ve been hesitating between the terms ‘serial’ migration and ‘active’ migration. I feel that the first one sounds more ‘commercial’, while the second sounds more academic.

Plus the acronym for active migration which I will be using often looks better (AMT) compared to “SMT”. What do you think? Would “active migration” be a more appropriate choice? You will notice that I am using both terms in the text, which might seem confusing at first sight. I will use predominantly one term, once I decide which one fits best.

Comment by Danai Krokou: I like portmanteau words. I think this one adds a nice twist in the title.

It encapsulates the idea of “migration/ cosmopolitanism” and “politics’’. Hope its use is appropriate in this title.

Comment by Danai Krokou: I came up with this term and felt it made sense to put it into inverted commas as there is no such term in sociology – at least I haven’t found anything after doing some research. I wanted to avoid the term “mobility”, because it is already ‘taken’, as scholars associate it with “social mobility” which has a different meaning than the one I intend to convey.

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By “motion” I want to stress the idea of “action” and “movement” which both play a key role in active migration.

Keywords: Active Migration, Serial Migration, Mobile Citizenship, Homo Entreprenarius, Liminality, Locus of Control, Internal Locus of Control, External Locus of Control, Agency, Mobility Pyramid, Mobile Elite, Cosmopolitics, Sociology of Motion, Active Migration Theory Comment by Danai Krokou: I had to come up with some words that reflect concepts related to serial/ active migration. In the main body I used inverted commas for concepts such as “mobility pyramid”, “mobile elite”, “liminal living”, “sociology of motion”. If you feel that I am using some of them in a wrong way or if you think I must eliminate or modify any of them, please feel free to point this out.

Abstract

Who are those elusive people beholden to no nation, who – like Satan himself – can take any bodily form, speak every language and cross borders undetected?

People with multiple sociocultural identifications challenge the way we think about identity (relationship to oneself) and citizenship (relationship to others and society).

Global dynamics generate forces of both fragmentation and unification. A major issue is that while we are faced with a global economy, politics remain desperately local. Globalization is about to change the notion of identity, borders and citizenship. The increasingly intense movement of serial migrants across the globe brings to the surface challenges and contradictions between existing social, political and economic models.

Serial migrants invite us to rethink issues of identity, migration and globalization at a time when increased attention to national borders and the opening of wider regions to transnational circulation are affecting the lives of millions of people in Europe and across the globe.

The proposed thesis aims to investigate how the growing number of highly mobile, multicultural and entrepreneurial individuals, in their rejection of ethnic integrity, redefine national identities and impact society and institutions on a regional and global level to form a transnational identity.

Serial migration is a challenge to the usual ways we make sense of who we are, how we relate to others and what our role in society is. What makes the study of serial migration relevant and intriguing in this beginning of the 21st century is that its implications extend far beyond the field of sociology, to domains such as political institutions, global economics and education.

Introduction

Between 2000 and 2017 the number of international migrants worldwide has grown faster than the world’s population itself (United Nations, 2017). Qualities of adaptability and readiness to move are increasingly demanded by the global economic system. Most importantly, the last seventeen years witnessed a 6% growth in the numbers of migrants originating from high-income countries (United Nations, 2017), suggesting that new migration patterns are about to form which are different from ‘standard’, more common types of migration. While what could be labelled as passive migration is imposed on individuals or groups (refugees, asylum seekers, etc.) by external circumstances such as poverty, war or natural disasters, active migration is a voluntary and conscious choice affecting the lives of both mobile and sedentary groups.

By following the paths of serial migrants – that is, people who have lived in several countries for significant periods of time – this thesis aims to break free from the double bind (country of origin-host country) that dominates the discourse of how we think of immigration, identity and integration. While traditional forms of integration, social embedding and identity are based on locality, physical presence and face-to-face interactions, serial migration is breaking free from the geographic dimension of citizenship and institutions. Seen from a positive angle, serial migration heralds the emergence of a “mobile citizenship”.

Life in the 21st century is about motion, constant change and transit. In the current global context, where speed, fluidity, movement and the ability to adapt have evolved into instruments of power (Albertsen, 2001), serial migration is an expanding phenomenon. The drastic increase in transnational flows of people, technology, capital, goods, information, financial resources and culture in recent decades has resulted in the “cosmopolitalization” and “cultural amalgamation” of modern societies (Canzler & Kaufmann, 2016). As it has been suggested, constellations of “change, risk and mobility” are omnipresent (Cazler, 2016 & Boltanski & Chiapello, 2003). These processes have given rise to new identities which are about to radically transform the world in terms of social behavior, values and goals (Lundan, 2014).

Human identities are becoming increasingly complex as people affirm their attachment to their local communities, while at the same time aspiring to global values and cosmopolitan lifestyles. Thus far, the connection between territory (locality) and citizenship has shaped the way people make sense of who they are (identity). This is about to change. The growing phenomenon of serial migration and its impact on society and institutions remain an under-addressed and under-researched aspect of globalization.

Literature Review

While in past centuries, and until recently, the reincarnation of the hero was a person who dies for the survival of the nation, the community or the clan, the 21st century version of the hero seems to be an ambitious, cosmopolitan and independent homo entreprenarius in constant pursuit of personal triumphs and achievements. Modern technology and globalization dynamics have given rise to the emergence of a “networked individualism” (Comunello, F. 2013, Castells, 2001) a term put forward by Barry Wellman and which describes the phenomenon of the increasing importance of personal networks. This reflects a decreasing emphasis on communal and family bonds, and is supported by technologies such as the Internet, social networking, and personal communication devices, allowing people to be more geographically mobile (Wellman et al. 2013). These shifts in technology further break down traditional roles and community ties, paving the way for increased mobility.

Serial migrants being mobile are, thus, more likely to become entrepreneurs or choose more liberal professions than sedentary or less mobile groups which tend to embrace security and domesticity. The serial migrant is a by-product and a turning wheel of this globalized economy. An economy, and along with it a society, that are shifting from traditional employment models – associated with simple working skills and immobility or limited mobility- to project-based employment models, which require the development and use of complex skills and increased geographic mobility. However, while globalization has heightened the contact points between different cultural systems and introduced the possibility of an almost infinite array of experiments with different cultural practices, operating across different and often contradictory cultural and political systems can be a deeply unsettling process for most people.

People engaged in project-based or freelance work currently represent 35% of the total U.S. working population and are expected to represent more than half of the country’s workforce by 2027 (Chetan A., 2018). A similar trend is underway in Europe and other parts of the world. Fifty-eight percent of mid-market companies report that a significant driver behind their use of ‘gig workers’ is to access skills and experience that is not available in their current workforce (Morgan S., 2018). Great talent tends to be concentrated in certain areas. Contract-based work assignments can, therefore, help companies attract the right talent and fulfil current needs to remain competitive. Shifts in the global economy are expected to become a driving force, thus determining career paths for many people in the coming decades, whether by choice or necessity. As Robin Chase, entrepreneur and co-founder of Zipcar, the world’s largest car sharing company, famously said: “My father had one job in his life, I’ve had six in mine, my kids will have six at the same time.”

Considering the above, what is the impact that global shifts and increased mobility are expected to have on the individual’s identity and society at large in the coming decades? While serial migration provides opportunities for human, intellectual and physical capital accumulation, it may lead to a loss of social capital back home; a loss that serial migrants try to compensate for by developing a global, transnational, hybrid identity. A theory of serial migration is in many ways a theory of hybridity; on ethnic, cultural and social levels. In the active migrant’s eyes, hybridity – far from being a condition of alienation or homelessness- is perceived as a declaration of autonomy and an act of independence from less mobile crowds and sedentary lifestyles.

A relation can be established between hybridity and “liminality” when it comes to the development of the serial migrant’s identity. While Van Gennep in Rites of Passage (1909) coined the term ‘liminality’ or, more precisely, ‘liminal stage’, several decades later, Victor Turner introduced this term into the field of anthropology, defining liminal individuals as “neither here nor there’ and as being ‘betwixt and between the positions assigned and arrayed by law, custom, convention, and ceremony” (Thomassen, 2014). The serial migrant – preferring to operate in grey zones and never stepping fully into a clearly defined cultural, social or religious territory – is the liminal subject par excellence.

While Van Gennep suggested that liminality is a temporary stage (2nd stage) -following Separation (1st stage) and preceding Re-assimilation (3rd stage) – serial migration can be seen as a longer or more permanent state of liminality (state as opposed to stage). As serial migrants display high levels of tolerance to uncertainty (grey zones) and a total or partial renunciation of roots, their very identity is constructed around their refusal to be part of a specific culture or social structure.

So, while ‘ordinary’ migrants tend to view things in terms of a choice – dilemma (e.g. Muslim or Christian, French or American, etc.) serial migrants break out of the world of binary opposition by using a different approach; they merge identities and smooth out contradictions to adapt to the various social-cultural contexts as a way to ease their migratory journey. Chameleonic skills are, thus, an essential tool for ‘liminal living’ allowing serial migrants to ‘blend in’. Such tools make active migrants expert at composing, decomposing and recomposing their identities at will, to match the specific cultural, social and linguistic realities that surround them.

The question is what, in the case of serial migrants, has led this temporary liminal stage to evolve into a more or less permanent state. While exogenous circumstances (globalization, advanced technology, affordable means of transportation, etc.) seem to affect significantly people’s decisions when it comes to leading mobile lifestyles, inherent psychological traits seem to play an equally important role when it comes to extended mobility (Toney, M. et al. 1985). Little is known, though, on what constitutes the key properties of this type of identity and which are the factors that make this liminal state of identity more enduring over time. Locus of Control (LOC) is considered to be an important aspect of personality by psychologists and social scientists.

The concept was originally developed by Julian Rotter (1954), who made a distinction between internal and external response mechanisms of an individual exposed to a new challenge. While a person with an internal locus of control believes that he or she can influence events and their outcomes, someone with an external locus of control manifests an attitude that is significantly determined by the actions or decisions of other people or exogenous circumstances. Research has shown that individuals with an internal locus of control are more successful in coping with difficulties inherent in adjusting to a foreign culture. They exhibit a strong Cross-cultural Adjustment Ability (CCAA) and are more likely to take decisions involving higher levels of risk and uncertainty (Nijkamp & Flytziani, 2017). Several studies have also established a strong connection between an internal locus of control and entrepreneurial behavior (Hermawan et al. 2016; Bauman, 2005).

Under this light, serial migration can be seen as the physical manifestation of a highly internal locus of control. Additionally, an internal locus of control suggests that the actor has the ability/propensity to ‘deterritorialize’, that is, to become more easily detached – both geographically and emotionally- not only from their original community but also from the various groups and communities they temporarily become part throughout their migratory journey. Capacity of withdrawal and detachment from the group and the wider community seem to be a necessary condition for mobility to take effect. Therefore, it is no surprise that, from a serial migrant’s perspective, life is often conceived in terms of independent action rather than in terms of community. Naturally, this has consequences when it comes to how serial migrants interact with their environment and institutions. Withdrawal from political participation, absence of religious affiliation and loose family and social ties are some of the characteristics that define the mobile subject (Warf, B. 2015).

Finally, to highlight the value of a theory of active migration it is important to point out a key paradox. A paradox that helps illustrate the difference between active migration and more ‘standard’ forms of migration (illegal aliens, refugees, asylum seekers, etc.). Illegal aliens and refugees form a collective identity; they are sympathetic figures and their collective efforts to be recognized a status are generally seen as part of a larger struggle against other ethnic and social groups. While such individuals may not always enjoy legal rights, they do have, nonetheless, a public and political presence. They are visible.

Their presence is more or less framed. Active migration, however, is not a physical place as much as it is a psychological territory. Serial migrants – despite the fact that they enjoy a perfectly legal status in their respective countries of residence – are politically invisible. They are excluded from attributes of citizenship. Meanwhile, they contribute valuable human, cultural and financial capital to the local communities and economies of the various countries where they live and work for extended time periods. They are, nonetheless, granted nothing more than the generic title of “legal aliens”; a title that limits their role within these communities and underestimates their contribution to local economies. An additional drawback is that such a title does not take into account – neither encourages – the cultural and economic ‘bridge-building’ activities serial migrants naturally engage in when operating between and across countries.

Thinking and Acting Beyond the Nation: Cosmopolitics and the Emergence of a ‘Sociology of Motion’

Within the current global context, ethnicity and race might be rather limiting concepts when it comes to discussing and explaining the cultural, political and socioeconomic divisions of the 21st century. Aside from ethnicity and race, unequal access to cross-cultural and geographic mobility is likely to become a leading mode of generating and explaining inequality in the coming decades. A key issue is that individual societies fail to prepare their members to face the demands of global living. Through a process of acculturation, people are encouraged to adjust to local realities and thus end up forming ‘off-the-shelf’ identities, ultimately acquiring roles that serve a specific group and culture. But, what are the chances that sedentary, cross-culturally handicapped individuals stand against the impetus of mobile subjects, in terms of social survival and access to opportunities? A theory of active migration – apart from new forms of identity and alternative forms of citizenship – introduces a new way of perceiving inequality as well as a new system of challenges, opportunities and power relations, paving the way for a new approach when it comes to explaining and addressing such emerging forms of inequality.

The privilege of the emerging ‘mobile elite’, far from being determined by their socioeconomic position in their country of origin, is highly dependent upon the individual’s willingness to be geographically mobile and culturally equipped to navigate the challenges of a dynamic and increasingly uncertain world. The greatest odds of ‘survival’ belong to the people at the top of the global ‘mobility pyramid’, to whom physical space matters little and cross-cultural contradictions are not disconcerting. Simply put, the capacity of the individual to survive and thrive within the current global context is proportional to their ability to permeate social, cultural and linguistic barriers, by identifying and dis-identifying when appropriate. Within any sociocultural context, language can function as either an integrator or an isolator. From that perspective, individuals born in multicultural and multilingual family environments have a comparative advantage over those born in monolingual and culturally homogeneous families. An advantage that can be sustained and cashed out only if the individual decides to actively build on it by expanding into an even bigger number of socio-cultural and linguistic affiliations.

While ‘standard’ migrants are often regarded as passive recipients of racial discrimination and social injustice, a theory of active migration regards mobile subjects as having a more active role in the process of their own identity formation, social integration as well as their possible exclusion. A key aspect of active migration theory is that – instead of perceiving migrants as actual or potential victims of inequality – it regards them as individuals that possess a high level of accountability when it comes to integrating into the various cultural, social and linguistic communities they join. For that reason, the concept of individual agency – which is complementary to the concept of internal locus of control – is key when it comes to defining, studying and addressing inequality from the standpoint of Active Migration Theory (AMT).

When it comes to global governance, in this beginning of the 21st century, reality has come to consist of two interactive worlds: a state-centric world in which the primary actors are national and a polycentric world of diverse actors such as small enterprises, large corporations and international organizations. It appears that we are currently faced with two options: either nationalize the global economy or globalize politics. Is this a real dilemma though? The innovation brought by serial migrants introduces a new way of relating to institutions, social structures, property and business.

The ‘deep state’ – a legacy of the Cold War – is still embedded in 21st-century state structures. Bureaucratized practices, pressure from an often outdated security sector and the career preoccupations of local government officials and national politicians are all factors that make it very difficult to depart from 20th-century practices to 21st-century solutions. In democratic theory, a useful distinction is made between procedural democracy and substantive democracy. Procedural democracy is about formal rules – such as elections, freedom of the media or freedom of association.

Substantive democracy is about political equality; it is about the ability of every individual to be able to influence and participate in the decisions that affect their lives. There is currently a tremendous deficit in substantive democracy, especially when it comes to the global movement of individuals. Procedural democracy applies largely to national levels; people vote to elect a national government. Yet, a big part of the decisions that affect their lives (market prices, consumption trends, environmental pollution, etc.) are taken in the headquarters of multinational corporations and institutions like the IMF, the World Bank, the UN, the WTO, the EU or NATO.

However ‘perfect’ democracy in procedural terms appears to be, citizens cannot affect those decisions. In theory, citizens should be able to influence decisions through national membership in global institutions. In practice, however, such institutions are still shaped by the interests of national and local elites rather than the needs of global citizens. Precisely because such institutions are distant, the answer might not necessarily be more democracy at global levels – though that might be desirable. Rather, a more viable solution would be to implement more global democracy at local levels, that is, in key regions and cities that concentrate global economic activity, where the nation-state can be bypassed up to some extent.

Research Objectives

The growing number of mobile citizens reflects the need for an increase in the available modes of regional and global organization. The aim of this doctoral thesis is to build a solid conceptual framework on the topic of serial/ active migration and to explore possible new forms of identity and citizenship for the 21st century. Believing in the value of an inter- and multidisciplinary approach, the research will draw on insights from sociology and social anthropology (Ritzer,G et al, 2018, Urry, J. 2007, Ortner, S. 2006, Brettell, C. 2003) cross-cultural psychology (Shiraev, E. 2015, Matsumoto, D. 2010, Kenneth, 2010), political economy (Talani, L. 2017, Collier, P. 2017) and entrepreneurship (Ruef. M. 2007, Portes, A. 1998, Light, I. 2004).

The objective is to, first, examine how the 21st century project-driven, globalized economy produces migration patterns and social behaviors by:

• Defining the socio-psychological profile of the serial migrant.
• Examining the link correlation between serial migration and internal locus of control (LOC) / entrepreneurial behavior.
• Examining how particular employment choices and patterns of mobility produce specific social behavior patterns and, second, to establish a link between these findings and their relevance for global governance by:
• Examining the implications of active migration as an emerging phenomenon for 21st century democracy and global governance.
• Examining whether serial migration is a trend marking a shift away from capitalism as we have known it so far, planting the seeds for the emergence of a new socio-economic model.
• Examining in which concrete ways active migration could be turned into a project affecting state policies at local and global levels.

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