Mobility Biographies and Mobility Socialisation—New Approaches to an Old Research Field

Abstract

This chapter investigates mobility biographies and mobility socialization, which are especially useful to capture long-term life choices. In the past decade, a research approach has been developed to better understand daily mobility by framing it in the context of individual life courses, their path dependencies and their social, economic and space-time links. This chapter briefly reviewed this approach and its origins. The concept of mobility biographies is introduced first, including a discussion of the role of routines (habits), life domains linked to mobility, and key events and transitions in the life course. A further step puts individual mobility biographies in a wider social context by referring to the concepts of socialization and linked lives. The importance of historical context for studying mobility biographies is briefly sketched. The chapter concludes with an outlook on future research.