Unpacking the Social and Spatial Mobility Nexus: Migrants’ Mobility Trajectories and Their Perceptions of Social Positions

The migration literature often assumes cross border mobility as a strategy to improve life chances and social positions. Quantitative studies predominately focus on the social position and mobility of migrants either in the country of origin or in the receiving country. These approaches presume that migrants’ social positions can be described in (inter-)national stratification systems. However, such a view neglects the possibility that migrants may position themselves transnationally in multiple, and sometimes also ambiguous ways, as qualitative research has shown (e.g. Nieswand 2011; Voicu & Vasile, 2013).

In our presentation we address migrants’ own interpretation and sense-making of their social mobility trajectories. We also link this to the development of dynamic criteria for assessing social position across national boundaries. We draw attention to multiple subjective frames of reference for self-positioning (economic, social, political and cultural), which often span national borders.

Drawing on mixed-methods data from a large scale sample on migrants (n=5.000) from the Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP) in Germany and a nested subsample of 30 qualitative interviews with migrants in different ascribed social positions, we will present findings on the role of different heterogeneities (gender, legal status, migration experience) for the subjective perception of migrants’ own position and changes over time. Particular attention will be given to the role of transnational social comparisons in respondents’ accounts of their social position in order to assess their views on the nexus of social and geographical mobility. We link these findings with a quantitative analysis of migrants’ social mobility trajectories before and after migration. Our data lead to a preliminary assessment of social position as a multifaceted concept beyond working position, income, and prestige. It includes social and emotional dimensions as well as ideas about the own life course.