A Psycho-Social Exploration of Cross-Border Mobilities. A Mixed-Method among Franco-Luxembourgish Commuters

Abstract

The application of the psycho-social paradigm of social representations in geographical studies is rather recent. However, this approach is considered to complement the work conducted in social geography where non-directive interview methods are often used. The main hypothesis of this paper is that mobility practice is not only influenced by the accessibility to transport infrastructures, but also structured by social representations about mobility, housing, and job. Based on a corpus of semi-structured interviews with 69 Franco-Luxembourgish cross-border commuters, the Multiple Correspondence Analysis (MCA) is employed to explore relations between different types of social representations and mobility practice. This mixed method allows to integrate both quantitative statistical data and qualitative discursive data. It is concluded that social representations can be envisaged as a theoretical approach to understanding mobility practice, and that the daily mobility practice is socially structured depending on various social representations of individuals which are also shaped by their social positions or social trajectories. Challenges related to the use of mixed methods in the research are also addressed in the methodological discussion.