The concept of migratory careers: Elements for a new theoretical perspective of contemporary human mobility

Abstract

The article offers a relatively new theoretical framework articulating macro, meso and micro levels of analysis of the migration process, which often are disconnected in the sociology of migration. This alternative approach rests on the classical sociological concept of career. The concept of migratory career integrates structures of opportunities, individual characteristics and networks to make sense of the migratory experience. This concept helps us to fill the gap between scholars of migration and people’s movement on the one hand, and scholars of integration and incorporation in the new country, on the other hand. Migratory career must be considered as an additional concept to the traditional concepts such as integration, assimilation or incorporation, which are mainly focused on the situation of migrants in the receiving country. Furthermore, the use of the concept of migratory career allows to connect the theoretical thinking on migration to mainstream sociological theories.

Tracing Migrant-Mothers’ ‘Return’ Narratives in the Mexico-United States and Peru-Belgium Migratory-Circuits

“…Irma's strategies are situated in two nation states that constrain her family life and limit the opportunities to fulfill her children's social protection needs (Martiniello and Rea, 2014). On the one hand, in the United States Irma is denied the opportunity to reside with her American citizen children on the same territory.…”

“…We argue that Irma and Amelia's return experience represents a bifurcation in their respective migratory careers. However, differently from Martiniello and Rea (2014), we asked "the other question" (Matsuda, 1991(Matsuda, : 1189 and depicted how multiple markers of difference such as gender, race, class, migratory status interact (Ferree, 2011) at different levels and lead to the construction of heterogeneous migratory careers.…”

“…Nonetheless, we considered our participants' agencies (Giddens, 1979) and the strategies of resistance or conformity they developed through their different decisions of mobility. Lastly, we considered the circumstances as well as the continuous accumulation of mobility capital (Martiniello and Rea, 2014).…”

“…According to Martiniello and Rea (2014), migrants' lives are situated in particular contexts with rules and regulations that will in turn affect the outcomes of their migratory careers. Irma's migration reflects the changing nature of contemporary Mexican migration, which differs from earlier patterns.…”

“…She is a mother of two children that were born in the receiving country. Amelia, however, possessed a different type of mobility capital (Martiniello and Rea, 2014). Her family in Lima is an internal migrant family that is originally from the coastal region of Pisco, Peru.…”