Intra-European mobility and the formation of a European society? German mobile graduates’ early careers in trans-/national professional fields

Abstract

Despite current economic and political crises, the intra-European mobility of students and young, highly qualified professionals is still widely regarded as a central mechanism contributing to the formation of an emerging European society. Approaching this issue, the article draws on recent conceptual attempts, inspired by Pierre Bourdieu, Neil Fligstein and others, that conceive of a European society as a set of interwoven transnational fields, and asks how such “free movers” might actually contribute to the formation of such fields. Based on narrative-biographical interviews with Germans, who graduated abroad, this article examines three different types of trajectories experienced by these “free movers” as they move across country borders and pursue their careers in professional fields, some of which turn out as rather transnational, while others still appear to be fairly national in their setup. Contrary to general theoretical expectations, it is therefore argued that this kind of intra-European mobility only furthers the formation of transnational fields under certain conditions.