Not barbarians : Transnational mobility and Rootedness of Upper Middle classes in European Cities

24 août 2010
By

Andreotti, Alberta, Patrick Le Galès, Francisco Javier Moreno Fuentes, (2010). “Not barbarians : Transnational mobility and Rootedness of Upper Middle classes in European Cities”, Working papers du Programme Villes & territoires, 2010, Paris, Sciences Po

Some authors suggest that “mobilities” are the distinctive feature of late modern societies and represent a new social cleavage between a mobile élite and the people who are locals. In such discourses, there is the assumption that the transnational or global society, as it is in turn defined, entails a process of de-territorialisation of individuals, and mainly of the mobile élite. The article based on a comparative empirical research analyses the dynamics of transnationalisation and the dynamics of rootedness of upper middle classes managers in four European cities: Paris, Madrid, Milan and Lyon. Our hypothesis is that European urban upper middle classes are developing ‘partial exit’ strategies, playing at different scale levels to organize and defend their interests without disinvesting on the local scale. The study adopts a micro-level perspective, looking at the individual experiences, strategies, motivations, values and narratives of  480 managers in the four cities.

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