The Marketization of Mobility: Some thoughts on Value, Movement and Classification

‘We often pull up skulls and bones in our nets.’ (Lampedusa fisherman to BBC reporter, April, 2015)

 

Imogen Tyler, professor of Sociology at Lancaster, discusses her research on stigma and migration. In the context of the ongoing migrant crisis in Europe, Tyler warns against ‘the intensive proliferation of legal instruments to (re)distribute mobility along market lines’.

 

If you arrive at Europe’s borders today, the class of migrant you are sorted into matters. It matters because it determines your mobility, your ability to cross a border, the kind of risks you might have to take to do so, and your ability to stake a claim to remain in a particular place. It also matters because it shapes how you are perceived and treated by those you encounter on your journey. In short, how you are classified as you cross, or attempt to cross, a border determines your access to mobility…