Anna Amelina - Transnationalizing Inequalities in Europe

Unequal life chances became a key feature of cross-border migration to, and within, the enlarged Europe. Combining transnational, intersectional and cultural-sociological perspectives, this book develops a conceptual tool to analyse patterns, contexts and mechanisms of these cross-border inequalities.

This book synthesizes the theories of social boundaries and of intersectionality, approaching cross-border relations as socially generated and as an inherent element of contemporary social inequalities. It analyses the mechanisms of cross-border inequalities as regimes of intersection relating spatialized cross-border inequalities to other types of unequal social relations (in terms of gender, ethnicity/race, class, etc.). The conceptual arguments are supported by empirical research on cross-border migration in Europe: migration of scientists and care workers between Ukraine and Germany.

This book integrates the analysis of spaceincluding cross-border categories of global and transnationalinto intersectionally informed studies of social inequalities. Broadly, it will appeal to scholars and students in the areas of sociology, political sciences, social anthropology and social geography. In particular, it will interest researchers concerned with transnational and global social inequalities; the interplay of the categories gender, ethnicity and class, on the one hand, and global and transnational relations on the other; theories of space and society; and migration and mobility in Europe.

Anna Amelina is Junior Professor of Sociology at Goethe University Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

For a full list of titles in this series, please visit www.routledge.com

25 Transnationalism and Urbanism

Edited by Stefan Krtke, Kathrin Wildner, and Stephan Lanz

26 Transnational Marriage

New Perspectives from Europe and Beyond

Edited by Katharine Charsley

27 Transnational Politics and the State

The External Voting Rights of Diasporas

Jean-Michel Lafleur

28 Transbordering Latin Americas

Liminal Places, Cultures, and Powers (T)Here

Edited by Clara Irazbal

29 Transnational Families, Migration and the Circulation of Care

Understanding Mobility and Absence in Family Life

Edited by Loretta Baldassar and Laura Merla

30 Transnational Agency and Migration

Actors, Movements, and Social Support

Edited by Stefan Kngeter and Wendy Smith

31 Languages and Identities in a Transitional Japan

From Internationalization to Globalization

Edited by Ikuko Nakane, Emi Otsuji and William S. Armour

32 Transnational Aging

Current Insights and Future Challenges

Edited by Vincent Horn and Cornelia Schweppe

33 Transnational Migration and Home in Older Age

Edited by Katie Walsh and Lena Nre

34 Transnationalizing Inequalities in Europe

Sociocultural Boundaries, Assemblages and Regimes of Intersection

Anna Amelina

According to the multiple-modernities approach introduced by Shmuel N. Eisenstadt (1978, 2002), equality is one of the symbolic principles inherent in globalized modernity, along with freedom, solidarity, autonomy and identity. Social scientists who adopt Eisenstadts insightful cultural sociology perspective analyse the formation of social inequalities, such as hierarchical stratification, exclusion, social closure and exploitation, as social forms generated against a background of dominant cultural narratives: without a cultural horizon, without a vision of equality, neither scholars nor the nonacademic audience would signify precarious situations as being connected to inequality. Consequently, the examination of symbolic and cultural foundations of the social order(s) is the obvious starting point for contemporary inequality scholars (Therborn 2006).

This volume relies on this cultural sociology perspective to conceptualize the formation of unequal life opportunities that emerge in the realm of cross-border practices. With the special focus on the processes of migration and mobility, it addresses the genesis and forms of inequality in the cross-border realm. The term cross-border is used in this volume to refer to all forms of social interaction and communication that, either physically or virtually, go beyond the territorial borders of political communities (including nation states). This encompassing category covers global processes, which are characterized by a planetary reach; it also considers transnational, multilocally organized practices that transcend the borders of nation states. In essence, the field of cross-border studies includes globalization approaches (see, e.g., Eriksen 2007; Krcken and Drori 2010; Ritzer and Atalay 2010) and transnationalization theories (Basch et al. 1994; Faist 2000a; Khagram and Levitt 2008). Despite their conceptual differences, these two theoretical perspectives highlight the increased worldwide interdependence among social actors and, therefore, suggest that the significance of nation states be reconsidered (Meyer et al. 1997).