Pioneers of European Integration

Book excerpt: Pioneers of European Integration contributes greatly to European sociology by offering unique quantitative data on the so far uncharted group of intra-EU movers. Theresa Kuhn, European Sociological Review Free movement has become a defining feature of European society. This important study answers the question who are these free movers? Using both quantitative and qualitative research evidence, it brings new perspectives to the sociology of European migration and integration, broadening the analysis from traditional labour migrants to various new kinds of spatial and social mobility in the continent. Russell King, University of Sussex and Sussex Centre for Migration Research, UK The free movement of EU citizens is the most visible sociological consequence of the remarkable process of European integration that has transformed the continent since the Second World War. Pioneers of European Integration offers the first systematic analysis of the small but symbolically potent number of Europeans who have chosen to live and work as foreigners in another member state of the EU. Based on an original survey of 5000 people moving to and from the EU s five largest countries, the book documents the demographic profile, migration choices, cultural adaptation, social mobility, political participation and media use of these pioneers of a transnational Europe, as well as opening a window to the new waves of intra-EU East West migrations. Students and scholars of sociology, political science, human geography, anthropology, migration studies and European studies will all warmly welcome the volume. Civil servants and policymakers will also find this book an essential tool in coming to terms with the implications of EU citizenship and the transformative effects of this unprecedented European integration from below .