300197 Global Migration as the New Social Question (Ko) (WiSe 2018/2019)

This seminar is suited as "Abschlusskolloquium" in the MA Sociology. It gives MA students a chance to discuss work-in-progress on their theses.

On a world scale, distress and social instability are reminiscent of the living conditions that obtained in a large part of nineteenth-century Europe. At that time the "social question" was the central subject of extremely volatile political conflicts between the ruling classes and working-class movements. Are we now on the verge of a new social conflict, this time on a transnational scale, characterized by manifold boundaries such as those between capital and labor, North and South, developed and underdeveloped or developing countries? Looking at cross-border migration, the lectures and discussions in this seminar exemplify crucial mechanisms resulting in the reproduction of old inequalities and the emergence of new inequalities. In particular, the "transnational social question" relates to political conflicts around the inequalities surrounding cross-border immigration and emigration.

The seminar features external speakers. Topics of the lectures include: Irregular Migration in Southern Europe; Immigration and Populism in the USA; and Migration in West Africa.