Title  Mobilidade Intra-Europeia e Estado-Providência: A proteção social nas aspirações e trajetórias dos migrantes portugueses (Original) 
         Intra-European Mobility and the Welfare State: Social Protection in the Aspirations and Trajectories of Portuguese Migrants (EN)
Author  Bruno Ricardo Delgado Machado
Advisor  Maria Lucinda Cruz dos Santos Fonseca and Jennifer Leigh McGarrigle Montezuma de Carvalho
Year  2020
Institution  Institute of Geography and Spatial Planning, University of Lisbon
Degree  PhD
Area  Human Geography
Keywords Intra-european mobility, France, Migration, Portugal, Social protection, United Kingdom, Welfare State.
URI http://hdl.handle.net/10451/42862

Abstract

Migration and the sustainability of the welfare state are irrefutably two of the most pivotal topics in the political debate, namely throughout Europe. However, until recently, researchers tended to focus
on the supposed “weight” of migration on destination countries, as well as on the assumption that the generosity of social benefits plays a central role in migrants’ motivations (Borjas 1999; Razin and Sadka 2000; Kvist 2004; Sinn 2004; Giulietti, 2014). However, this perspective implies that migrants are fully aware of their social rights, something that contrasts with some of the latest approaches (Ciobanu and Bolzman, 2015). Moreover, literature has mainly focused the on the receiving country perspective, completely neglecting the role of the sending country. Adding to the already mentioned pitfalls on the study of welfare and migration, is the lack of a more holistic view of the former. Only recently have scholars emphasized not only social protection as being shaped by formal and informal aspects (from the State to the role of family and friends) but also the importance of strategies that take place in a transnational manner (Faist, 2016; Levitt, et al. 2016). Regarding the aforementioned, Portuguese academia is no exception. Not only, until recently, has emigration been far less studied than immigration, but the study of the welfare state been almost exclusively tied to the levels of benefit take up or the characterization of Portuguese social protection (Peixoto et al. 2011; Santos, 1999). This study seeks to identify the role of the welfare state in the origin and destination, through formal and informal providers, in the perceptions, motivations and aspirations of Portuguese migrants and returned migrants, comparing two different countries: France (a “traditional” destination for Portuguese migrants) and the United Kingdom (a recent and today’s most important receiving country within the context of Portuguese emigration). Drawing upon qualitative data resulting from 61 interviews, this work aims to understand their
decision to move and settlement strategies, encompassing the various sectors of social protection (childcare, employment, health, etc.) and contrasting realities (urban and rural) through a life cycle
approach, covering three distinctive profiles: young migrants, parents of school aged children and elderly migrants. Within this study’s main conclusions, it should be highlighted that, although social protection issues have virtually no impact in these individuals migration decision making process, its role in their strategies and trajectories is paramount, creating complex mobility patterns and assemblages both between formal and informal providers as well as in-between places. In addition, results point to an element of happenstance deeply impacting in these individuals’ strategies and trajectories