A Cluster of Contradictions: The Politics of Migration in the European Union

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Abstract
The increasing scale of transnational migration is sociologically one of the most interesting features of contemporary life, not least because of the analytical challenges posed by the complexity of this phenomenon. The aim of this paper is to explore the contradictions inherent in policy approaches to migration in the EU - the logic of the market is weighed against welfare protectionism; welfare and labour market regulation against demands for cheap labour; national resource concerns against transnational rights. The outcome is presented in terms of an increasingly complex system of civic stratification, which raises a further set of contradictions; discriminatory exclusion alongside assertions of equal treatment. The implications of these cross-cutting pressures for a sociological understanding of migration are considered throughout, and doubt is cast on the validity of any single overarching perspective.

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