IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/socres/v7y2002i3p36-49.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Crossing Borders? Sociology, Globalization and Immobility

Author

Listed:
  • Larry Ray

Abstract

Globalization theorists frequently claim that the disembedding of social relations across various dimensions renders obsolete the former object of sociology, namely ‘society’. The exceptional change to social life arising from globalization demands that sociality is viewed in more fluid and complex ways than in the past. A closer examination of classical concepts of the social would reveal more nuanced and multidimensional concepts. I suggest that globalization does not entail the stretching of social relations beyond recognition, but reconfigures spaces and identities according to powerful dynamics. Classical theory emphasizes the embeddedness of exchanges and flows in social and cultural relations. This will be exemplified with reference to migration, which both epitomizes globalizing tendencies and illustrates its limitations. Along with mobile subjects there are immobile subjects (racialized migrants) policed by actual and threatened violence, who have been underplayed in globalization theory. The paper concludes that concepts of the ‘social’ may need rethinking but central to this should be an understanding of the interlocking of mobility with the circulation of capital, commodities and cultural practices.

Suggested Citation

  • Larry Ray, 2002. "Crossing Borders? Sociology, Globalization and Immobility," Sociological Research Online, , vol. 7(3), pages 36-49, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:7:y:2002:i:3:p:36-49
    DOI: 10.5153/sro.739
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.5153/sro.739
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.5153/sro.739?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Christopher Lloyd, 2000. "Globalization: Beyond the Ultra‐modernist Narrative to a Critical Realist Perspective on Geopolitics in the Cyber Age," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 258-273, June.
    2. Glover, Stephen & Gott, Ceri & Loizillon, Anaïs & Portes, Jonathan & Price, Richard & Spencer, Sarah & Srinivasan, Vasanthi & Willis, Carole, 2001. "Migration: an economic and social analysis," MPRA Paper 75900, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yüksel OKÞAK & Jülide YALÇINKAYA KOYUNCU, 2017. "Does globalization affect female labor force participation: Panel evidence," Journal of Economics Bibliography, KSP Journals, vol. 4(4), pages 381-387, December.
    2. Nijnik, Maria & Secco, Laura & Miller, David & Melnykovych, Mariana, 2019. "Can social innovation make a difference to forest-dependent communities?," Forest Policy and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 207-213.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Linda McDowell & Adina Batnitzky & Sarah Dyer, 2008. "Internationalization and the Spaces of Temporary Labour: The Global Assembly of a Local Workforce," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 46(4), pages 750-770, December.
    2. Hunt, Priscillia, 2008. "Are immigrants so stuck to the floor that the ceiling is irrelevant?," Economic Research Papers 269787, University of Warwick - Department of Economics.
    3. Dobra, Alexandra, 2009. "Principal concerns concentrating on the costs and benefits of immigration in developed countries," MPRA Paper 16817, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. E. M. Young, 2004. "Globalization and food security: novel questions in a novel context?," Progress in Development Studies, , vol. 4(1), pages 1-21, January.
    5. Timothy Hatton, 2005. "Explaining trends in UK immigration," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 18(4), pages 719-740, November.
    6. Timothy Hatton, 2002. "Why Has UK Net Immigration Increased?," CEPR Discussion Papers 457, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    7. Stefano Staffolani & Enzo Valentini, 2010. "Does Immigration Raise Blue and White Collar Wages of Natives? The Case of Italy," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 24(3), pages 295-310, September.
    8. Michael A. Clemens, 2022. "Migration on the Rise, a Paradigm in Decline: The Last Half-Century of Global Mobility," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 112, pages 257-261, May.
    9. Richard B. Freeman, 2006. "People Flows in Globalization," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(2), pages 145-170, Spring.
    10. Camelia Anghel & Adina Claudia Neamtu & Liviu Neamtu, 2017. "Sustainable Development Versus Migration In Romania," Annals - Economy Series, Constantin Brancusi University, Faculty of Economics, vol. 2, pages 41-46, December.
    11. David Robinson, 2010. "The Neighbourhood Effects of New Immigration," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 42(10), pages 2451-2466, October.
    12. Stefano STAFFOLANI & Enzo VALENTINI, 2009. "Does Immigration Raise Blue and White Collar Wages of Natives?," Working Papers 330, Universita' Politecnica delle Marche (I), Dipartimento di Scienze Economiche e Sociali.
    13. Dobra, Alexandra, 2009. "Identifying the key issues focusing on the costs and benefits of immigration in developed countries," MPRA Paper 16806, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Pinger, Pia R., 2007. "Come back or stay? - Spend here or there?: Temporary versus permanent migration and remittance patterns in the Republic of Moldova," Kiel Advanced Studies Working Papers 438, Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel).
    15. Williams, Fiona, 2011. "Towards a Transnational Analysis of the Political Economy of Care," SULCIS Working Papers 2011:6, Stockholm University, Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS.
    16. Sam Scott, 2017. "Venues and Filters in Managed Migration Policy: The Case of the United Kingdom," International Migration Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 51(2), pages 375-415, June.
    17. Jonathan Levie, 2007. "Immigration, In-Migration, Ethnicity and Entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 28(2), pages 143-169, March.
    18. Alexander Hijzen & Peter Wright, 2010. "Migration, trade and wages," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 23(4), pages 1189-1211, September.
    19. Linda Mcdowell & Adina Batnitzky & Sarah Dyer, 2009. "Precarious Work and Economic Migration: Emerging Immigrant Divisions of Labour in Greater London's Service Sector," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 33(1), pages 3-25, March.
    20. David Coleman, 2006. "Immigration and Ethnic Change in Low‐Fertility Countries: A Third Demographic Transition," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 32(3), pages 401-446, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:socres:v:7:y:2002:i:3:p:36-49. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.