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Self-Initiated Expatriates、Everyday Practices and Their Images of the Future
Abstract Submissions Closed
RC07 Futures Research (host committee)
Language: English
Session Type: Oral
For a long period of time, people working abroad are strongly linked to the multinational organization. They were sent abroad by their companies and often to the newly developing regions or countries. They undertook their work overseas mainly as assigned expatriates with a favorable work contract. Yet, globalization has led to the increase of expatriation patterns. Many individuals today decide on their own to live and work abroad—so-called self-initiated expatriation.
This session invites proposals from sociologists and scholars of other disciplines to explore self-initiated expatriates, their everyday practices and their images of the future. Research questions may include: What are the main motivations and patterns of self-initiated expatriation? How expatriates deal with the image of “privileged migrants” in relation to their daily practices? What kind of problems these expatriates have to face in terms of family arrangement, career building and limits on capital transferability? and, What kind of images of the future do these expatriate have regarding their overseas career building and transnational lives?