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Towards a Sociology of Forced Migration and Social Transformation

Oxford University stephen.castles{at}queen-elizabeth-house.oxford.ac.uk

Forced migration - including refugee flows, asylum seekers, internal displacement and development-induced displacement - has increased considerably in volume and political significance since the end of the Cold War. It has become an integral part of North-South relationships and is closely linked to current processes of global social transformation. This makes it as important for sociologists to develop empirical research and analysis on forced migration as it is to include it in their theoretical understandings of contemporary society. The study of forced migration is linked to research on economic migration, but has its own specific research topics, methodological problems and conceptual issues. Forced migration needs to be analysed as a social process in which human agency and social networks play a major part. It gives rise to fears of loss of state control, especially in the context of recent concerns about migration and security. In this context, it is essential to question earlier sociological approaches, which have been based on the principle of relatively autonomous national societies. The sociology of forced migration must be a transnational and interdisciplinary undertaking.

Key Words: migration • refugees • social transformation

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