Looking at intra-European mobilities through migrant types: young Spanish and Polish migrants in London and The Hague

Abstract

This paper echoes the need to further explore the social effects of European Union integration by examining the increasingly complex and diverse scenario of intra-European mobility. Much research has focused on the intensification of East-to-West migrant flows after the enlargements of 2004 and 2007, inspiring a rich conceptualization of migrant typologies. Theoretically, this paper argues that some of these typologies can be extrapolated to better understand the experiences of other European movers. Empirically, it offers a qualitative and comparative analysis of diverse European young adults’ experiences of mobility: 8 Polish citizens in The Hague and 10 Spaniards in London. The analysis is based on four main dimensions derived from the literature: (1) Motivations to migrate, (2) Labour market participation, (3) Attachments and transnational ties and (4) Family composition and future outlooks. Results map individual differences and similarities contextualized by generational, gendered, educational and socio-economic aspects.

Keywords:

• intra-European mobility
• young adults
• Spanish migrants
• Polish migrants
• migrant types
• qualitative research

Acknowledgements

We thank Dr Stefana Broadbent and Maria Angel from UCL for their invaluable collaboration in the research process.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in the course of the research project “Entendiendo la movilidad de los jóvenes emigrantes digitales en Londres y Argentina” by Adela Ros [grant number 01GP0904].