Global Multiple Migration: Class-Based Mobility Capital of Elite Chinese Gay Men

Abstract

The present study examines how global multiple migration – a pattern of migration characterised by multiple changes of destination internationally in one’s lifetime – becomes a strategy employed by highly educated, Chinese self-identified gay men to navigate social stigmatisation, negotiate family pressure, circumvent state oppression and achieve desired life goals. By examining the intersection between sexuality, migration and class, the present study contributes to the sexuality and migration literature. It explores how relationships between sexuality and migration are related and mediated by class-based capital. It adds to the discussion that migration has increasingly become a multi-directional and open-ended process. For the class and social inequality literature, it seeks to understand how global multiple migration has become an element of social stratification and generates mobility capital. It also highlights how sexuality influences the value of mobility capital for the pursuit of an authentic self.