Mobility Trajectories across the Life Course: New Directions In the Sociology of Population

Human mobility is a fundamental demographic process that shapes individual life chances, family dynamics, and social inequalities. Yet, research has often relied on static distinctions between movers and stayers or focused on isolated migration events. Recent developments in population sociology increasingly conceptualize mobility as a dynamic life-course process, emphasizing the timing, sequencing, duration, and interconnectedness of residential, internal, and international mobility experiences across the life course.

This session brings together emerging research that advances the study of mobility trajectories and their consequences for individuals, families, and societies. We welcome theoretical, methodological, and empirical contributions that examine mobility as a cumulative and multidimensional process embedded within broader life-course trajectories. Contributions address questions related to the antecedents, mechanisms, patterns, and consequences of mobility trajectories, as well as the interdependence of mobility with family, educational, occupational, housing, and health trajectories.

The session particularly encourages research examining long-term consequences of mobility for socio-economic attainment, health and well-being; the role of family ties and linked lives in shaping mobility trajectories; the lasting influence of childhood mobility on adult outcomes; and methodological innovations for measuring and analyzing complex mobility histories. Comparative, longitudinal, sequence-analytic, causal, and mixed-methods approaches are especially welcome.

The session builds on recent advances emerging from international research networks, including the ERC-funded LIFELONGMOVE project and the IUSSP Scientific Panel on Lifetime Migration. By fostering dialogue across substantive domains and methodological traditions, the session seeks to advance a life-course perspective on mobility and strengthen its position within contemporary population sociology.