Welfare Considerations in Migration Decision-Making through a Life-Course Approach: A Qualitative Study of Spanish EU-Movers
The welfare aspects of intra-European migration remain an important and controversial topic of academic and political debates. These discussions touch upon the classical ‘welfare magnet’ or ‘welfare tourism’ hypothesis. Transcending the politicised concept of ‘benefit tourism’, our paper examines ho...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, and Polish Academy of Sciences
2021-12-01
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| Series: | Central and Eastern European Migration Review |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://ceemr.uw.edu.pl/articles/welfare-considerations-migration-decision-making-through-life-course-approach-qualitative |
| _version_ | 1818239219819085824 |
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| author | Katarzyna Andrejuk Marie Godin Dominique Jolivet Sónia Pereira Christof Van Mol |
| author_facet | Katarzyna Andrejuk Marie Godin Dominique Jolivet Sónia Pereira Christof Van Mol |
| author_sort | Katarzyna Andrejuk |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The welfare aspects of intra-European migration remain an important and controversial topic of academic and political debates. These discussions touch upon the classical ‘welfare magnet’ or ‘welfare tourism’ hypothesis. Transcending the politicised concept of ‘benefit tourism’, our paper examines how welfare-state considerations in relation to migration decisions vary across the life course. Relying on micro-level qualitative research focusing on Spanish intra-EU movers, the paper probes deeper into how individuals perceive welfare systems, analysing the subtle and nuanced meanings of different aspects of the welfare for their migration decisions. We focus more specifically on welfare provisions in terms of health care, compulsory education, child support and other care responsibilities, unemployment and pensions and retirement. Our research indicates that, in studies on the migration–welfare nexus, it is necessary to move beyond the current narrow focus on the welfare magnet hypothesis and to examine how diverse welfare arrangements continuously and dynamically set the context for migration decisions at various stages of an individual’s life. The results of our research show how features of the Spanish welfare system, in comparison to those of potential destination countries, might act as both a trigger and/or a barrier to migration. As such, we get a ‘thicker description’ of the role which welfare might play in shaping individuals’ eventual migratory aspirations and decisions. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:54:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-4e758586097a45269162c0ed47b1fef5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2300-1682 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-12T12:54:05Z |
| publishDate | 2021-12-01 |
| publisher | Centre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, and Polish Academy of Sciences |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Central and Eastern European Migration Review |
| spelling | doaj.art-4e758586097a45269162c0ed47b1fef52022-12-22T00:23:55ZengCentre of Migration Research, University of Warsaw, and Polish Academy of SciencesCentral and Eastern European Migration Review2300-16822021-12-011029311010.17467/ceemr.2021.14Welfare Considerations in Migration Decision-Making through a Life-Course Approach: A Qualitative Study of Spanish EU-MoversKatarzyna Andrejuk 0https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3397-152XMarie Godin 1https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1050-6673Dominique Jolivet 2https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4931-6789Sónia Pereira 3https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5699-0643Christof Van Mol 4https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9275-101XInstitute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences, PolandUniversity of Oxford, UKUniversity of Amsterdam, The Netherlands, University of Maastricht, The NetherlandsIGOT, University of Lisbon, PortugalTilburg University, The Netherlands, Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute / UG / KNAWThe welfare aspects of intra-European migration remain an important and controversial topic of academic and political debates. These discussions touch upon the classical ‘welfare magnet’ or ‘welfare tourism’ hypothesis. Transcending the politicised concept of ‘benefit tourism’, our paper examines how welfare-state considerations in relation to migration decisions vary across the life course. Relying on micro-level qualitative research focusing on Spanish intra-EU movers, the paper probes deeper into how individuals perceive welfare systems, analysing the subtle and nuanced meanings of different aspects of the welfare for their migration decisions. We focus more specifically on welfare provisions in terms of health care, compulsory education, child support and other care responsibilities, unemployment and pensions and retirement. Our research indicates that, in studies on the migration–welfare nexus, it is necessary to move beyond the current narrow focus on the welfare magnet hypothesis and to examine how diverse welfare arrangements continuously and dynamically set the context for migration decisions at various stages of an individual’s life. The results of our research show how features of the Spanish welfare system, in comparison to those of potential destination countries, might act as both a trigger and/or a barrier to migration. As such, we get a ‘thicker description’ of the role which welfare might play in shaping individuals’ eventual migratory aspirations and decisions.http://ceemr.uw.edu.pl/articles/welfare-considerations-migration-decision-making-through-life-course-approach-qualitativemigration aspirationsmigration decisionswelfare statewelfare magnetcrisisspain |
| spellingShingle | Katarzyna Andrejuk Marie Godin Dominique Jolivet Sónia Pereira Christof Van Mol Welfare Considerations in Migration Decision-Making through a Life-Course Approach: A Qualitative Study of Spanish EU-Movers Central and Eastern European Migration Review migration aspirations migration decisions welfare state welfare magnet crisis spain |
| title | Welfare Considerations in Migration Decision-Making through a Life-Course Approach: A Qualitative Study of Spanish EU-Movers |
| title_full | Welfare Considerations in Migration Decision-Making through a Life-Course Approach: A Qualitative Study of Spanish EU-Movers |
| title_fullStr | Welfare Considerations in Migration Decision-Making through a Life-Course Approach: A Qualitative Study of Spanish EU-Movers |
| title_full_unstemmed | Welfare Considerations in Migration Decision-Making through a Life-Course Approach: A Qualitative Study of Spanish EU-Movers |
| title_short | Welfare Considerations in Migration Decision-Making through a Life-Course Approach: A Qualitative Study of Spanish EU-Movers |
| title_sort | welfare considerations in migration decision making through a life course approach a qualitative study of spanish eu movers |
| topic | migration aspirations migration decisions welfare state welfare magnet crisis spain |
| url | http://ceemr.uw.edu.pl/articles/welfare-considerations-migration-decision-making-through-life-course-approach-qualitative |
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