Borders, Migration and Class in an Age of Crisis: Producing Workers and Immigrants

Description

This book responds to global tendencies toward increasingly restrictive border controls and populist movements targeting migrants for violence and exclusion, and integrates elements of classical Marxism, Lenin's theory of imperialism, post-colonialism, and recent work within critical migration and border studies. Informed by Marxist theory, it challenges standard narratives about immigration and problematises commonplace distinctions between 'migrants' and 'workers'. Using Britain as a case study, the book examines how these categories have been constructed and mobilised within representations of a 'migrant crisis' and a 'welfare crisis' to facilitate capitalist exploitation. It uses ideas from grassroots activism to propose alternative understandings of the relationship between borders, migration and class that provide a basis for solidarity.

Tom Vickers is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Nottingham Trent University. His research is intimately connected to his participation in social movements, community organising and community education, as a form of critical public sociology spanning diverse struggles.

"This book makes a timely and indispensable contribution to our understanding of how Britain's border regime is structured through capitalism." Ethnic and Racial Studies "Elaborating his concept of 'mobility power', Vickers provides an extremely compelling analysis of the ways in which class solidarity has been fragmented, and how it might be re-consolidated in the future... a welcome addition to a growing body of literature on migration and border control." Border Criminologies blog