Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

In order to overcome the lack of theoretical progress in migration studies and to bridge disciplinary and paradigmatic divides, this latest working paper by Hein de Haas elaborates a conceptual framework for understanding human mobility and proposes a new typology of migration and mobility.

In the paper, Hein de Haas argues that significant theoretical progress can be achieved by conceiving migration as an intrinsic part of broader processes of social transformation and development. The paper conceptualizes migration as a function of aspirations and capabilities to migrate within a given set of perceived opportunity structures, and defines human mobility as people’s capability (freedom) to choose where to live, including the option to stay. This allows research to move beyond dichotomous and simplistic classifications of migration and forms the basis for elaborating new, theory-driven migration and mobility categories.