Publications

Irregular migration systems are giving way to an undocumented population in Europe that is estimated at some millions. The migrants manage to live and work for years without a certified identity yet within ‘foggy’ social structures. What strategies and mechanisms allow them to avoid detection, generate an income and access necessary services? What alternatives are pursued – at whatever human cost – to substitute for political membership and legal protection? How does irregular status impact social interactions? Based on empirical studies carried out across the Continent, this book explores how irregular migration systems developed over time to interact with changing European labour markets, welfare regimes and immigration policies. Foggy Social Structures considers such phenomena one of contemporary society’s distinctive features, one that challenges existing notions of political statehood and societal membership.

Contents

1 Irregular migration as a structural phenomenon
Michael Bommes and Giuseppe Sciortino
2 From irregular migrants to fellow Europeans: Changes in Romanian migratory flows
Remus Gabriel Anghel
3 Illegality in everyday life: Polish workers in Dutch agriculture
Emilia Brinkmeier
4 The informal economy of paid domestic work: Ukrainian and Polish migrants in Naples
Lena Näre
5 Gaining an insight into Central European transnational care spaces: Migrant live-in care workers in Austria
Sandra Gendera
6 Irregular migration and foggy organisational structures: Implications of a German city study
Maren Wilmes
7 Labour market flexibility and worker security in an age of migration
Alex Balch and Sam Scott
8 Immigration control and strategies of irregular immigrants: From light to thick fog
Godfried Engbersen and Dennis Broeders
9 Regularisation of immigrants in Southern Europe: What can be learned from Spain?
Claudia Finotelli
10 In lieu of a conclusion: Steps towards a conceptual framework for the study of irregular migration
Michael Bommes and Giuseppe Sciortino