Youth Migration and Social Advancement: How Young People Manage Emerging Differences between Themselves and their Hometown

Abstract

The phenomenon of youth out-migration from rural areas has attracted renewed governmental attention in the context of recent rural economic adjustment and decline across advanced industrial nations. While this trend is well documented in demographic and economic research, youth researchers have sought to extend this analysis beyond descriptive patterns of migration to an understanding of how rural–urban migration is positioned within a complex of youth transitions, as well as an understanding of the subjective experiences of youth migration. This paper contributes to this literature in its focus on young people's experiences of geographical out-migration and social advancement. Based on in-depth interviews with young people from rural Tasmania, this paper draws attention to the emerging differences between young people and their peers, their family and their community on leaving their hometown, and the strategies employed by young people to manage these spatial and cultural differences.