Conclusion
-
Helena Hof
Abstract
The conclusion highlights the complex decision-making processes and the structural constraints involved in migrants’ geographical, organisational/career and social mobility. It emphasises the significance that the three entangled dimensions of mobility assume for the EU Generation’s pursuit of middle-class life paths in Asian global cities. The longitudinal research foregrounds how the particular generation and life stage upon the EU Generation’s emigration from Europe have turned geographically distant Asian cities into attractive destinations for career progression and distinction in a time of flexible labour and shorter employment contracts. Previously accumulated mobility capital and the notion of insecurity lying ahead in any globalised labour market render continuous mobility or residence abroad the most reasonable path to choose for the time being and thus pave the way for an entire life stage, or longer, in Asia. The discussion identifies remaining and newly emerging obstacles to the incorporation of independently moving middle-class migrants such as the EU Generation in both cities. In doing so, the conclusion reaffirms the rationale for considering Singapore and Tokyo, and potentially other non-Western global cities, as a viable option and a potentially long-term residence for the EU Generation and middle-class labour migrants in general.
Abstract
The conclusion highlights the complex decision-making processes and the structural constraints involved in migrants’ geographical, organisational/career and social mobility. It emphasises the significance that the three entangled dimensions of mobility assume for the EU Generation’s pursuit of middle-class life paths in Asian global cities. The longitudinal research foregrounds how the particular generation and life stage upon the EU Generation’s emigration from Europe have turned geographically distant Asian cities into attractive destinations for career progression and distinction in a time of flexible labour and shorter employment contracts. Previously accumulated mobility capital and the notion of insecurity lying ahead in any globalised labour market render continuous mobility or residence abroad the most reasonable path to choose for the time being and thus pave the way for an entire life stage, or longer, in Asia. The discussion identifies remaining and newly emerging obstacles to the incorporation of independently moving middle-class migrants such as the EU Generation in both cities. In doing so, the conclusion reaffirms the rationale for considering Singapore and Tokyo, and potentially other non-Western global cities, as a viable option and a potentially long-term residence for the EU Generation and middle-class labour migrants in general.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Preface vi
- List of Figures and Tables vii
- List of Abbreviations viii
- Glossary ix
- Notes on the Author xi
- Acknowledgements xii
- Introduction 1
-
Spatial Mobility to Asia: Moving Ahead by Moving Out
- The EU Generation and Their Migration Motivations 23
- Destination Singapore: The Dream of a Cosmopolis 51
- Global City Tokyo: Japan’s Diversification from Within 66
-
Organisational and Career Mobility: Seizing Security, Success and Self-Realisation
- Singapore: Professionalising the Self 85
- Tokyo: (Dis)Embedding in the Japanese Labour Market 103
- Career Trajectories through an Intersectional Lens 121
-
(Im)Mobility through Differentiated Embedding: The Ties That Bind
- Immobility and Emplacement: Making the City Home 147
- Belonging through Romantic Relationships 167
- Conclusion 186
- Positionality: Researching Migrants as a Migrant 198
- Demographic Profiles of Interlocutors 203
- References 212
- Index 242
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- Series Preface vi
- List of Figures and Tables vii
- List of Abbreviations viii
- Glossary ix
- Notes on the Author xi
- Acknowledgements xii
- Introduction 1
-
Spatial Mobility to Asia: Moving Ahead by Moving Out
- The EU Generation and Their Migration Motivations 23
- Destination Singapore: The Dream of a Cosmopolis 51
- Global City Tokyo: Japan’s Diversification from Within 66
-
Organisational and Career Mobility: Seizing Security, Success and Self-Realisation
- Singapore: Professionalising the Self 85
- Tokyo: (Dis)Embedding in the Japanese Labour Market 103
- Career Trajectories through an Intersectional Lens 121
-
(Im)Mobility through Differentiated Embedding: The Ties That Bind
- Immobility and Emplacement: Making the City Home 147
- Belonging through Romantic Relationships 167
- Conclusion 186
- Positionality: Researching Migrants as a Migrant 198
- Demographic Profiles of Interlocutors 203
- References 212
- Index 242
