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The Changing Face of Migration in Britain
The United Kingdom’s immigration and integration system is on the cusp of radical change. The complex patterns of mobility and settlement which had characterised the British migration system for over six decades had begun shifting at the turn of the millennium and within a decade the country’s migration landscape changed dramatically. This change was one of the principal factors contributing to the outcome of the 2016 Referendum on European Union membership, which has triggered an ongoing ‘Brexit’ transition period with yet unsettled legal and political outcomes, but which nevertheless is already affecting the UK’s demography and policy landscape. This article summarises the main changes undergone in the UK's migration system since the second half of the twentieth century.
Residency, settlement or citizenship?
EU27 citizens who wish to stay in the UK after Brexit must take part in the new EU Settlement Scheme meant to replace the previous legal route to securing permanent residence. Once that has been obtained, they can opt for naturalisation. Here I look at which option they are choosing, and examines attitudes to naturalisation from the findings of a survey of EU nationals carried out just before the referendum.
Britain’s NHS is not that great, say EU migrants
In this brief article we summarise some of the findings emerging from a survey project aimed at EU migrants in the UK, where we asked respondents about their opinions of and experiences with the British National Health Service.
The Ongoing Legacies of Brexit
Reflections on the Sociological Review-funded project ‘The sociology of “Brexit”: citizenship, belonging and mobility in the context of the British referendum on EU membership’ one year after the British electorate voted in favour of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union in a referendum preceded by a heated campaign dominated by the issue of the free movement of people within the EU
Sociological Questions Through the Spectre of Brexit
Reflections on the Sociological Review-funded project ‘The sociology of “Brexit”: citizenship, belonging and mobility in the context of the British referendum on EU membership’ carried out in 2016. The project consisted of a seminar series that attempted to ‘think sociologically’ about the already observable and (un)expected consequences of the process by which the United Kingdom exits the European Union. The aim of the seminars was to bring together social scientists, civil society actors and members of the public, whose joint contributions outline the theoretical and empirical possibilities of a ‘sociology of Brexit’.
The Discursive Asianization of Hungary
This post summarises an article published in the journal International Journal of Cultural Studies under the title “The Asianization of national fantasies in Hungary: A critical analysis of political discourse”, which analysed the Hungarian government’s ‘Asian’ political discourse and argued that in the wake of the economic recession, Hungary became more radical in its turn towards Asia, promoting a discourse that goes beyond economic relations and touches on sentiments of national identity and belonging.