This book responds to global tendencies toward increasingly restrictive border controls and populist movements targeting migrants for violence and exclusion. Informed by Marxist theory, it challenges standard narratives about immigration and problematises commonplace distinctions between ‘migrants’ and ‘workers’. Using Britain as a case study, the book examines how these categories have been constructed and mobilised within representations of a ‘migrant crisis’ and a ‘welfare crisis’ to facilitate capitalist exploitation. It uses ideas from grassroots activism to propose alternative understandings of the relationship between borders, migration and class that provide a basis for solidarity.
Table of Content
Introduction;
Imperialism, migration and class in the 21st Century;
Deconstructing migrant crises in Europe;
Deconstructing welfare crises;
Mobility power and labour power in the crisis of imperialism;
Deconstructing migrant/worker categories Britain;
Conclusion;
Appendix: Research background and methodology.
About the author
Tom Vickers is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Nottingham Trent University. His research is intimately connected to his participation in social movements, community organising and community education, as a form of critical public sociology spanning diverse struggles.