Une migration économique ?

Pratiques et usages sociaux des migrations de travail intra-européennes

Abstract

In the last decade, intra-European labour migrations have grown importantly, particularly from East to West, and more recently from South to North. Despite the diversification of migratory paths and practices, “labour migrations” are frequently reduced to a unique economic rationale and opposed to other types of mobility. Drawing on a qualitative research (37 biographical interviews) and quantitative data (national surveys), this article explores migration strategies of young Polish and Romanian citizens in the United Kingdom and in Spain and the diversity of the social uses of their mobility. All practices are not equally legitimized, which exemplifies how mobility is socially stratified and stratifies societies in return. The notion of social use underlines the socially diversified ways of using international mobility.