The social structure of transnational practices

This chapter argues that mobilities – in their plural and multidimensional manifestations – shape the everyday lives of Europeans on a much larger scale than has so far been recognised. The chapter’s interest lies particularly in cross-border mobilities, as these erode the ‘container’ nature of nation state societies. Expanding on previous research on international migration within the EU, we contend that the process of European integration goes hand in hand with globalisation and leads to enhanced relations among individuals that obliterate national boundaries. Through regression analysis and multiple correspondence analysis, the chapter examines to what extent country- and individual-level factors structure these ‘mobility styles’, documenting how access to movement is strongly mediated by socioeconomic status, but also cognitive capacities, both among nationals and non-nationals. We find that the overall robust effects of socioeconomic differences (education, income and gender, in particular) operate quite differently across national contexts.

Cartographies of social transnationalism

The chapter takes up the challenge of a ‘cartography of social transnationalism’ first proposed by Steffen Mau (2010) in his study of German nationals in the post-war period. It emphasises, as Mau did, the need to find modes of operationalising the grand, abstract social theory of globalisation at a regional European scale. Using EUCROSS data on Europeans’ familiarity of other countries, the chapter maps variations in global connections across the six countries of the EUCROSS study, going on to map for each the particular cartography of their citizens’ social relations within Europe. It also visualises the kind of stratification apparently inherent in access to these transnational lifestyles. European nations still have quite specific, historically rooted ‘imperial’ relations with the rest of the world, something which anchors their overall geo-politics.

Social transnationalism in an unsettled continent

Introducing the collection and the EUCROSS survey on which it is based, the chapter argues for a distinct focus on growing social transnationalism in Europe, despite the widespread gloom about the political fortune of the European Union. Everyday cross-border practices, both physical and virtual, continue to build a social space beyond nation states, despite political and legal roll-back. The chapter offers a survey of the recent sociological literature on social transnationalism in Europe, an overview of chapters, and a prognosis of social transnationalism in the future, beyond the present-day analysis of rising populism and resurgent nationalism.

Is social transnationalism fusing European societies into one?

This final chapter steps beyond the bounds of the project and the data it provides, and asks what may now be said about a question raised in earlier rounds of the Sociology of the EU. Is the emerging social transnationalism outlined in the present book leading to something like a ‘European society’, and are we thus heading towards a fusion of national societies in Europe? Four critical dimensions are explored: borders, inequality patterns, social norms and practices, and sense of belonging. Findings indicate that since the 1990s: a) supranational and national borders have both become more salient; b) levels of income inequality and welfare coverage have converged within countries, but diverged between countries; c) significant social norms and practices are not shared by equivalent proportions of national populations; and d) one third of EU residents continue to see themselves in exclusively national terms, while the other two thirds feel only ‘mildly European’. The chapter discusses to what extent broader processes of the centralisation of power through the EU, imitation and transnationalism may have affected societal convergence, positing that it is the persisting nation-state monopoly of security and socialisation that fundamentally hampers it.

Understanding Romanians’ cross-border mobility in Europe: movers, stayers and returnees

This chapter investigates the everyday practices of cross-border mobility of Romanian citizens in the light of the concept of ‘space-set’ (Recchi 2013 and 2015). Using mixed methods, we distinguish between stayers, movers and returnees and examine the role of frequency, reason for travel, destinations and personal significance. Findings show that Romanians’ long-term mobility, motivated especially by work, is amplified by more short-term mobility in the form of holidays, trips or visits to friends and families abroad. However, not all benefit from the rise in international mobility: two thirds of the stayers did not cross the border in the past two years. This finding suggests that first, mobile Romanians are pioneers of everyday European integration (Recchi and Favell 2009) and, second, long-term mobility has a ‘sticky’ nature and predicts short-term mobility irrespective of individual socio-economic resources. These insights counter stereotypes of Romanians, and also question what we call the ‘migratisation of mobilities’ where all forms of mobility are assimilated to a migration paradigm.

Narratives and varieties of everyday transnationalism

The chapter introduces the cross-national comparative material offered by the qualitative interviews conducted in the EUMEAN survey. Building on Juan Díez Medrano’s study (2003) of how Europe is framed differently by Germans, Spanish and British, the chapter focuses on the discussions about mobility and cross-border experiences of residents of the five West European countries in EUCROSS (i.e., also adding Denmark and Italy in comparative terms). Taking the confident identities of Danes in Europe as its reference point, it contrasts the less experienced but sometimes more idealist points of view of Spanish and Italians, with the more doubtful voices of Germans and British. Tensions in their cross-border relations also surface, particularly between the privileged North-West of the continent and the South.

Transnational Turkey: the everyday transnationalism and diversity of Turkish populations in Europe

This chapter surveys the social transnationalism of the hugely diverse Turkish populations to be found in five of the EU member states in the EUCROSS study. It provides a portrait of a nationality well recognised as the most transnational in the continent, despite not enjoying the privilege of EU citizenship. The chapter stresses the internal heterogeneity of the population: Turkish nationals in different locations need careful distinguishing in terms of ethnicity – notably our samples of ethnic Turks and Kurds – socioeconomic status, religion and politics. Older stereotypes based on low-end ‘guest worker migration’ and linear models of immigration and integration no longer apply easily to the Turkish in Europe. Combining quantitative and qualitative data, the chapter surveys the social transnationalism which anchors Turkey in Europe, and then goes on to explore the political transnationalism of Turks revealed by their varying stances towards the Gezi Park protests of 2013, which took place as fieldwork was being conducted.

Cultural boundaries and transnational consumption patterns

We still know little about how Europeans differentiate each other in terms of cultural tastes and practices and how the latter relate to mobility practices and socio-demographic characteristics. We explore two areas of tastes (music and food) and investigate the role of concrete or symbolic geographic boundaries in people’s tastes. We assess whether there is a European cultural field that works with its own specific rules and tensions. The main cultural divisions and affinities between countries are discussed in light of debates about tensions between openness versus localness, highbrow versus lowbrow, and old versus young cultures. Cultural practices are seen as especially important in the Europeanisation of everyday life as they reflect cultural but also symbolic boundaries that cross the European social space.

Social transnationalism and supranational identifications

This chapter focuses on the degree to which the surveyed national and migrant populations identify with different entities, such as their country of residence, the European Union, or the world as a whole. The comparative analysis shows differences in the transnationalism-identification nexus between nationals in the different countries, between nationals and migrants in the same country and, between migrants in different countries. Overall, the nexus is found to be weaker than expected. We also explore the distinction between Europe-centred supranational identification and a more broadly defined understanding of cosmopolitanism. Evidence reveals that European identification is not a variation of cosmopolitanism, but rather a distinct phenomenon in its own right, which is also more evident in some national contexts.

Explaining supranational solidarity

Social solidarity is a concept with a long history in political thought, entailing networks of relationships that presuppose dependency, reciprocity and responsibility among the members of a group or a political community. Yet solidarity is not charity or a gift, but an institutionalised system of rules and conventions that apply to risk and misfortune. Since solidarity has been historically institutionalised in the context of national states, transnational solidarity has largely remained a utopian project as well as an insufficiently developed principle in the EU legal system. In this chapter we explore individual support for European solidarity as it becomes manifest in distinct ‘solidarities’ across borders such as mutual help in case of natural disaster, financial assistance in the context of economic crisis or solidarity as a governing principle of European integration. Drawing on classical sociological arguments and transactionalist theory, we analyse the extent to which social interactions among Europeans and transnational practices contribute to the formation of solidarity ties in the EU. We show that individual transnational practices, such as tourism, residency in another EU country, transnational friendships or virtual connections with other European societies have a selective role in enabling European solidarities. Rather than a question of cumulative transnational experiences, European solidarity is built on meaningful social connections such as close and diverse transnational friendships.