Navigating aspirations and expectations: adolescents' considerations of outmigration from rural eastern Germany

From the perspective of policymakers, young people are often regarded as the most important group for the future development of rural regions experiencing socioeconomic polarisation. They, in turn, usually see themselves and their desire to migrate not as the driving force of population decline, but...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of ethnic and migration studies Vol. 44; no. 6; pp. 1032 - 1049
Main Author: Meyer, Frank
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Abingdon Routledge 26.04.2018
Carfax Publishing Company, Abingdon Science Park
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects:
Adolescence
Adolescents
Aspiration
Case studies
Decision making
Discourse
Discourses
Emotions
Employment opportunities
Expectations
Interpersonal relations
Job opportunities
Land
Mass media images
Migration
Policy making
Political discourse
Politicians
Population decline
rural
Rural areas
Rural communities
Rural development
Social relations
Socioeconomic factors
subject
Suffering
Teenagers
Youth
Germany
ISSN:1369-183X, 1469-9451
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:From the perspective of policymakers, young people are often regarded as the most important group for the future development of rural regions experiencing socioeconomic polarisation. They, in turn, usually see themselves and their desire to migrate not as the driving force of population decline, but as a symptom of it. Although politicians urge adolescents to not leave rural regions despite the hard times, adolescents expressly do so because of the socioeconomic conditions and limited local opportunities. Drawing on a case study of Altenburger Land - a rural district in eastern Germany suffering from limited job opportunities for adolescents, outmigration and negative depictions in the media - this article aims to explain the conditions of migration and their impact on adolescent migratory decision-making. In sum, adolescents' choices happen in a nexus of social relations, emotions and political programmes. Besides their own attempts of becoming, these contested fields of expectations from different entities create a norm-driven array of discourses permeating many aspects of their lives. Therefore, migration in this context can be considered as a product of spatial and spatialised discourses through which a subject must navigate.
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ISSN:1369-183X
1469-9451
DOI:10.1080/1369183X.2017.1384163