Focusing on the dynamics of migration, the book explores how socioeconomic status influences individuals' decisions to relocate. It introduces the concept of "sideways migration," describing a phenomenon where people move to neighboring countries with comparable wealth and social conditions driven by middle-class aspirations. This examination sheds light on the motivations behind such movements and their implications for both migrants and the societies they enter.
French sociologist and anthropologist Pierre Bourdieu’s relevance for studies of spatiality and mobility has received less attention than other aspects of his work. Here, Deborah Reed-Danahay argues that the concept of social space, central to Bourdieu’s ideas, addresses the structured inequalities that prevail in spatial choices and practices. She provides an ethnographically informed interpretation of social space that demonstrates its potential for new directions in studies of mobility, immobility, and emplacement. This book traces the links between habitus and social space across the span of Bourdieu’s writings, and places his work in dialogue with historical and contemporary approaches to mobility.