Space, Place and Capitals in Rural Youth Mobility: Broadening the Focus of Rural Studies

Abstract

AbstractDrawing on fieldwork in six Estonian rural areas from 2010–2019, the article calls for a nuanced understanding of the processes of mobility and migration in rural areas. Based on qualitative in‐depth and focus‐group interviews with rural youth and key stakeholders, several phenomena are identified as crucial to understanding the dynamics of mobility. Mobility is seen as a negotiated process, intertwined with the social structures of the location, and with the global, demographic and political processes around that location. As researchers, we should observe how the interrelatedness of the local context with mobility practices impacts mobilities in later life. Additionally, we must consider how these mobility practices relate to factors like social class and symbolic, social, and cultural capital.