Dissociating middle class and reflexive migration Maarja Saar (work in progress to be sent to Current Sociology) Introduction Several scholars argue that societal changes have led to the conditions were individuals are less constrained by the structures and have more choices available (Archer 2009; Beck, Lau 2005; Bauman 2013). In Giddens's (1991) opinion modern individuals face both the burden as well as the liberation of constructing their own identities which he calls reflexive project of self. Migration scholars, as well, have stressed the role of reflection in migration decisions (Kennedy 2004; Kesselring 2008; Scheibelhofer 2009; Benson 2011; O'Reilly, Benson 2009a). Self‐reflexive migrants are said to move not for economic reasons, but their movement is seen as part of their wider quest for authentic identity. Lifestyle migration research especially, has stressed the role of reflection in migration process (O'Reilly, Benson 2009b).Lifestyle migration is said to be the migration whereby individuals intend improve their quality of life (Benson, O'Reilly 2009b). However, lifestyle migrants are usually defined as individuals with middle class background, coming from Western societies and moving southwards. Lifestyle migration is connected to very specific societies and groups in these societies. On the other hand, not much has be written on how popular classes nor elite engage in self‐reflection in their migration decisions. Rather these classes are seen as mainly following the example of those around them. Research on lifestyle migration tends to identifies to urge to seek alternative identities and reflect as a middle class endeavor. Reflection thus is partly seen as habitual for the middle class. (Osbaldiston 2014)has stated that even if lifestyle migrants are of middle class origin, there is a need for more research examining how such a quest for authentic identity has become part of their habitus. This article compares migrants from different social origin and their habits of reflection. It argues that the assumption of middle class being more reflexive can be misleading. Findings on the relationship between social class and reflection differ. (Reay 2001) for instance argues that it is those who are upwardly mobile that are most reflexive. (Laughland‐Booÿ et al. 2014) on the other hand claim that working class youth engages more in reflexive practices because there is a stronger mismatch between their actual field of possibilities and the societal accounts of what is possible. These findings differ from Lash's and Urry's (1994) argument that working class youth can be described as reflexivity losers as well as (Threadgold, Nilan 2009) claim that middle class youth reflects much more on their future. Earlier research then shows that there is no reason why reflexive migration should be seen as strictly middle class endeavor. Using interviews conducted with highly skilled Estonian migrants in UK, it is argued that reflexive migration practices cannot be connected to specific class, but rather there are different groups present in all classes. The findings rely on 37 interviews with younger generation Estonians (up to 40 years old) which were analyzed using grounded theory method. Interviewees came from different social backgrounds, however there were more those with middle class background. The article focuses on connecting their class background and the role of reflection in their migration decisions. Reflection, class and migration There are many accounts on how societies have changed in the last decades. Beck (2002)argues that expanded education, growing affluence, widespread job insecurity and mushrooming social and geographical mobility have uprooted people from traditional ways of life. Archer (2009) joins with Beck adding that since the changes are happening in increasing speed, people cannot follow their parent’s footsteps but have to think, strategize and consider multiple options. Finally in Giddens's (1991) opinion such changes have led to the circumstances where self‐identity is not anymore constrained by tradition, but instead modern individuals face the burden and the liberation of constructing their own identities. Self‐identity is thus created by what Giddens calls reflexive project of self. These grand theories on societal changes have also impacted migration research in many ways. There has been an epoch of research on migrating middle class, which can partly be connected to former over focus on low‐skilled and elites (see Conradson, Latham 2005; Kennedy 2010; Favell 2011; Recchi 2008). In Kennedy’s opinion the opportunity to move inside EU appeals especially to middle class individuals who are wishing to enhance their economic or cultural capital. Krings et al. (2013) have distinguished such middle class migration from earlier migration flows, suggesting that for these middle class migrants the move abroad is not only work‐related, but also involves lifestyle choices as part of a broader aspiration for self‐
development. Giddens (2002) has noted that lifestyle choices have a special meaning for modern individual since they are a crucial part of the reflexive project of self. Lifestyle therefore gives individuals one way for defining themselves. Many are therefore talking about new migration flows which involve reflexive decisions. Such migration has been called spiritual migration (Satō 2001), self‐searching migration (Kato 2013), liquid migration Engbersen et al. (2010) and lifestyle migration (Benson, O'Reilly 2009a). Perhaps the best developed among these is the concept of lifestyle migration which I will be shortly focusing on as follows. Lifestyle migration is defined as a movement of relatively affluent individuals in search for better quality of life (O'Reilly, Benson 2009b). Torkington (2010) has considered the unifying factor among lifestyle migrants to be the belief that a change of residential place will lead not simply to better opportunities in life, but rather to something which might be described as a better lifestyle and more fulfilling life. Lifestyle migration is considered to be a reflexive process whereby individual’s relocation is seen as part of the individual fulfillment and search for authentic identity. Benson and O’Reilly (2009) also connect it to the current times, caused by the alienation in modern life that has brought forward the quest for authenticity. However such quest is attributed to particular part of the society, namely mainly to middle classes (see Benson, O’Reilly, 2009). Middle class is then seen as encouraged to question their identity and seek for alternatives and lifestyle migration is a result of such quest (Osbaldiston 2014). Kato (2013) has criticized such a focus on middle class and argued that working class as well migrates for self‐search objectives. In his study he focuses on low‐skilled Japanese migrants in both Canada and Australia, arguing that unlike the particular group that lifestyle migration scholars focus, his group consists of young people still aiming to find their identity through travels. Indeed, the group that (Benson, O'Reilly 2009a) and many other scholars of lifestyle migration focus is middle‐aged or older people who have relatively clear idea of their life goals. However there is no reason why the term lifestyle migrants should only include these. Osbaldiston (2014) has pointed out that there is a need to examine how the motivation behind lifestyle migration is constructed. He states that even if it is the case that lifestyle migrants are of middle‐class background, how this has become part of the habitus of individuals within this group remains underdeveloped. Indeed, although (O'Reilly, Benson 2009b) note that habitus has an effect in guiding such self‐search oriented quests, they do not explain the process thoroughly. They argue that although lifestyle migrants consciously reflect upon their migration decisions, these still remain constrained within their habitus, which in many ways prescribes the outcome. Similarly in her article on social imaginaries, Benson (2012) argues imaginations circulate among members of particular social worlds and by extension cultures. In her opinion lifestyle migration is made possible by economic resources as well as certain cultural capital, thus being possible to certain individuals in the society only. Huete et al. (2013) have criticized lifestyle migration for being focused on Western individuals who migrate southwards. In their opinion the concept is related to methodological nationalism, as used to differentiate Western migrants from the rest. They argue that among lifestyle migrants there are as many differences as labor migrants. Indeed, there is no reason why self‐reflexive migration should be attributed to Western individuals only, as several scholars have noticed similar patterns among Eastern Europeans (Krings et al. 2013; Ciupijus 2011; Black et al. 2010). According to Trevena there is a new group of migrants among Eastern Europeans‐ young and highly skilled who are interested in looking around. Interestingly Engbersen et al. (2013) argues that such group does exist, but it consists rather of low‐skilled migrants who are only starting their career. Such findings pose another question: can such self‐reflexive migration necessarily be attributed only to middle class individuals? Several authors indeed argue that middle classes are more reflexive (Threadgold, Nilan 2009). Working class youth according to them can be seen as mainly following the examples of those around them. However Laughland‐Booÿ et al. (2014) argue against such findings and assert that according to their study, working class youth seems to show more propensity for critical self‐engagement. Authors explain such findings with the discrepancy between what is said to be obtainable for working classes on the societal level and what is actually obtainable to them. This creates a mismatch between their habitus and field and therefore these youngsters are forced to reflect as they try to execute their future plans. Reay (2001) has argued that those working class students that progress to university showed more reflexive awareness. Maclean et al. (2012) have arrived to similar conclusion in their study among business elites. Those who had more modest background were forced to reflect more. However McLean et al also come out with an interesting division of reflexive practices: re‐constructive and accumulative. Accumulative reflexive practices are oriented towards gathering resources, whereas re‐constructive focus on re‐evaluating behavior and self‐identity. Authors noticed that upwardly mobile engaged much more in re‐constructive reflexive practices. It is interesting that many lifestyle migrants pointed out particular events that led up to their migration or explained migration in relation to one watershed event (see Hoey 2006; Benson 2011). Migration for those individuals was a way to overcome these events, re‐establish themselves and find a better life. This however rises several questions in relation to lifestyle being middle class phenomenon. Currently it is assumed that lifestyle migration is connected to the stress that middle class puts on reflection. However if the search for authentic lifestyle for many middle class individuals was actually related to some events which possibility challenged their usual habitus, it becomes questionable how much the migration is actually connected to specific middle class habitus. Several scholars have argued that reflexivity is evoked as a response to some critical mismatch between field and habitus (Adams 2003; Burkitt 2002). This seems to be the case also for many lifestyle migrants. There is no question that working class if meeting such a mismatch might choose other ways of searching their identity, however there is no reason to limit self‐reflexive migration only to middle classes. Similarly there is no reason to assume that middle classes are in their everyday life more reflexive than popular classes as shown by some applied research (Laughland‐Booÿ et al. 2014). This however means, that as Osbaldiston (2014) has suggested we need to more carefully examine the roots of lifestyle migration as well as self‐reflexive migration in general. Surely, there is also other kind of migration that still is related to reflexive practices. This article then aims to compare highly skilled migrants of different background in order to analyze the role that reflexivity played in their migration decisions. It then categorizes these migrants to several groups, in order to show exemplify the relationship between habitus and reflexivity. Background After the fall of communism Estonia had to change from state planned economy to the market based economy. Unlike some other Eastern European countries, Estonia did not have pre‐existing market structure. Furthermore, its economy was tightly tied with Soviet Union and based on its needs. Such transition led to extreme disorder in the labor market during early nineties. The changes had perhaps the biggest effect on the generation entering to the labor market. On the other hand, the same generation along with those closing in their thirties, were able to gain the most out of the disorder. Several former members of Communist parties youth section were able to transform their political capital to economic (Steen, Ruus 2002). The beginning of nineties however was also the time when businessmen could emerge from nowhere and without appropriate education, reached a high status and amassed fortunes(Kogan, Unt 2005). After some years however labor market stabilized and traditional stratification processes, where education played a key role, reemerged. By that time the demand for young specialists and professionals increased and the demand for lowly educated had vanished. The entrance to the higher education has in twenty years rose close to 50%, for instance in 2005 among those graduating from secondary school 54% considered entering to higher education (see Eesti Hariduse infosusteem). Research has shown that similarly to Western European countries, children from advantageous family background manage to obtain higher level of education and better occupational outcomes in Eastern European countries(Iannelli 2002). In other words that means that the objective agency for children with more educated parents is bigger. Such inequalities that are emerging based on educational background are perhaps even more distinct in Eastern Europe due to the weak state control over the labor market and big role played by informal networks in job search (see Clarke, 2000). The importance of social networks is especially big in Estonia due to its size as well as the fact that the importance of education is shown to be smaller compared to other Eastern European countries (see Kogan, Unt, 2005). The other factor influencing the entrance to the labor market is that Estonia has one of the lowest job tenures in Europe and highest labor mobilities (Kallaste, Woolfson 2013). That results in youth unemployment being relatively small in Estonia as well as youth before the financial crisis being able to take on responsible positions. Perhaps because the labor market was quite advantageous for young people, highly skilled migrants are in minority compared to low skilled (Anniste et al. 2012). Based on Randveer and Rõõm (2013)the average migrant from Estonia is young male blue collar worker. Altogether about 2 % of the total population have left in the recent ten years (Randveer, Rõõm 2013). For highly skilled UK has been the most popular destination. According to RAM4 highly skilled migrants are most interested in finding better career options and testing oneself. However among the potential constraints for return also economic factors are listed. Still the results indicate that for highly skilled economic reasons are often less important than other more self‐development oriented motivations. Zaiceva and Zimmermann (2008)note that Estonia among Eastern European countries has noticeably big student migration. UK especially can be considered a popular destination for student migration due to the English‐language proficiency among young Estonians as well as the ease of access. Also the results on the most popular destinations for Estonians in UK indicate to the popularity of student migration, considering that both Cambridge and Oxford are high in the list. London of course, because of its big labor market is also an attractive destination. After having described shortly Estonian migration and the recent changes in Estonian labor market, the author continues with analyzing societal value structure in Estonia. In order to understand the dominant values in Estonian society, it is important to comprehend the connection made between national ideology and neoliberalism in nineties. The road to freedom was translated to the labor market with notions of freedom to choose and individual responsibility. As mentioned earlier, post‐socialist period in Estonia was characterized with the rapid changes and heavy social turbulence. Believing in individual agency and power to control these turbulences offered a life boy in such a hectic environment. Thus the risks that were produced socially, began to be understood as being controllable on an individual level. Tart (2012) has also noted that during these changes people turned to strong and stabile worldviews that would provide at least some safety in an otherwise turbulent situation. This furthermore rooted neoliberalist and individualist ideology to people’s value systems. In addition to neoliberalism there was also a rapid increase in materialist and consumerist values in Estonia (Haav, 2007). Material values and status symbols dominated over intellectual values and personal interests were set higher than social interests. Tart (2012) has compared Estonia to Sweden and Finland and noted that Estonians put more value to self‐realization, pleasant life and national security, whereas for the latter harmonious life was more important. Nevertheless it is important to note that self‐realization is to large extent connected with status and achievements. This makes more some differences in the nature of highly skilled migration from Estonia compared to some Western societies. However before reviewing these differences, I will give a short overview of the methods used for empirical analysis. Methodology My analysis is based on 37 in depth interviews conducted with Estonian highly skilled migrants. I included two groups‐ people that were currently living in UK and people who had lived there but decided to move back to Estonia. Since my one of the core interests was to understand how the ongoing societal changes in two last decades have changed the migration behavior of Estonians, I decided to focus on the younger generation (20‐40). These are the people whose growing up period at least partly coincided with Estonian re‐independence. As mentioned in the previous chapter, re‐independence period brought rapid political changes which also led to the transformation of the value system. I assume that such transformed value structures have had an impact on the motivations for migration as well as potentially to the people who migrate. Another selection criteria for interviewees was the condition that they had had to go to university and hold a white collar job. These are the typical criterions for defining migrant as highly skilled. The reason, why I in particular was interested in highly skilled migrants, stemmed from the previous literature which allowed to guess that second modernity has had more impact on the highly skilled. I found my interviewees mainly using snowball method and searching for respondents through Estonian Guild website. Estonian Guild is a group that is formed to join Estonians in London. There were 21 females and 16 males among my study group and their age was varying between 24 to 38. When it comes to the professions then wide variety was represented, starting from freelance artist and finishing with business consultant. The data was analyzed multiple times using different strategies in order to find main topics. In the beginning line by line coding was used with first interviews whereby relevant and reoccurring themes were identified. After identifying such themes, author titled the paragraphs based on these themes. However such initial analysis, more than anything else, provided ideas for different articles. For this particular article the aim was to analyze the influence of class habitus and reflexivity for highly skilled migrant’s migration process. From the first analysis it emerged that although interviewees were all professionals, their route to UK and professional life had been different. Such differences were at least partly explainable by their class background. However simply making an analysis based on class division would have been simplistic, as was also obvious from the interviews. After re‐reading the interviews five key types of self‐narratives which were related to class, were identified. In order to operationalize and explain the differences between the groups I created Table 1. Table 1. Five different self‐narratives of Estonian highly skilled migrants Class background Childhood Small village cosmopolite boy Higher or high Popular class cultural capital Lonely rider Subjective agency Belief in individual agency Objective agency Reflexivity Good odds Across /more likely lower middle/popular
Strong Sometimes emphasis on still doubt their agentic their agency/reflect powers on constraints Rather limited Rather limited Re‐
constructive Both to some extent Accumulative Achiever Soul‐searcher Middle class/higher class Strong emphasis on their agentic power More from middle class Good odds Middle ground Accumulative Re‐
constructive Reflect on structural constraints From the Table 1., one can see that the author has used four different factors in analyzing and differentiating between five groups. The first factor concerns the most likely class background for the individuals sharing particular self‐narrative. The second factor concerns the belief in one’s personal capacity to exert influence(see O’Connor 2012). The third factor on the other hand characterizes people’s objective opportunities to exert control over their life. The last factor describes the types of reflexivity most commonly used by the type. Reflexivity is divided between re‐constructive and accumulative‐ first being oriented towards re‐making and reconstituting the self in response to contingencies, contexts and insights gathered and the second, which is used to consciously build capital and positions and embrace the opportunities, accumulating perspectives and viewpoints (see Maclean et al. 2012). Such factors provided means for author to characterize the ways each groups used reflexivity and how its migration was connected to its social background. As follows five groups are being described separately in the empirical section. Childhood cosmopolite People belonging to this category had related their identity with being cosmopolitan and open to other cultures. However such an understanding of openness originated from an early age as they reflected on their contacts with other cultures. “My first experience was going to US, when I was five years old. I could not understand anything and that motivated me to study English afterwards. In 2001 I went to a festival in NY and that was the moment when I knew, that I have to go back.” The motive for going abroad for childhood cosmopolite is connected to their interest to certain place or more generally to traveling around the world. The previous interviewee became aware of the size of the world as well as differences in there, at an early age and found herself be interested in communicating with others. She grew up with an understanding that world extends beyond Estonia and this world outside is both strange and interesting. For childhood cosmopolites such opportunities were open, since they came from relatively wealthy backgrounds. A core of this group is formed by newly emerging elite in in Estonia, who considers sending their kids to foreign universities as an important practice. Partly such a practice is related with parents own unmet ambitions, since going outside of Soviet Union was very complicated. Most kids, however are also aware of the influence their parents have had to their interest towards foreign countries. See: “Going to UK was mainly related to my father. He has always liked UK and also my school was focused on English language. Already in the 8 grade my father told me, that we have financial possibilities, so if you want, it would be very good if you went to study to UK.” The interviewee did not have to worry about the resources needed to go to UK and was fully supported in her home. This made going to UK an easy choice. Some other interviewees in this group however did apply for scholarships. Nevertheless, they had the knowledge and ambition characteristic to the surroundings they came from, to start applying for the foreign universities at the age of 16‐17. That shows a lot of motivation as well as belief in one’s capabilities in managing in the foreign environment. Coming from good background, they were sure that they will not have problems in the new environment. Childhood cosmopolites can also come from families with high cultural capital, but not so well off financially. In Estonian society, several positions that are high of cultural capital, are not so well paid, for instance university staff. However, having high cultural capital perhaps even more, than having financial means, becomes important in succeeding in foreign universities. For this group going abroad did not necessarily mean entering to foreign environment or having to change their habitus. Many still got later exposed to new fields, however the move itself did not require any re‐constructive reflexivity, but was mainly connected to developing some skills. Small village boy Similarly as for childhood cosmopolite, seeing the world was important for small village boy. However the backgrounds for these two groups were totally different. When for childhood cosmopolite, cultural differences were something that they got accustomed early on, then for the current type, this was something new to be explored. Moving abroad was for them like discovering a new universe. This is expressed by one interviewee: “A person who has been born and raised in a village X has naturally the wish to discover the world.” With that quote the interviewee refers that his home environment became to seem too small for him and hence it was only logical that he wanted to go and explore what is behind the borders. The first step on this road was usually moving to a bigger city nearby‐ either Tallinn, Tartu, Riga. This was not an easy step and required financial resources, which were often scarce. Due to that, many village boys had to work before they were able to enter to university or parallel. Although many Estonian universities are free, one still needs resources in order to support living costs. In addition to financial resources, people belonging to this group had to also acquaint themselves with new surroundings. Academic environment was not familiar for them and therefore making choices in terms of specialty was challenging as well. Many ended up changing their main field of studies later in their life. Also their moves to UK were usually made in their late twenties, early thirties, when they had both acquired enough material resources as well as cultural capital in order to make such moves. Several of these people reflected very consciously on what kind of resources were necessary as well as showed awareness of the potential structural constraints: “Since I did not have strong academic background, I had to do something else in order to get in to that school (good university in UK). So what I did was, I got references from very prominent and known figures in Estonia and that along with my career accomplishment granted me way in.” This interviewee shows that he has carefully considered his moves and acknowledges his limited resources, however also knows how to compensate for his weak spots. This kind of reflexivity is then more than anything else, oriented towards‐ knowing how to play the field. In general village boys showed capacities for re‐constructive reflexivity. Due to not coming from advantaged background, they had to be more aware of the field they were playing in and making adjustments in both their behaviors as well as develop new strategies for advancing. Such acculturation however also had its price in terms of alienation from the former surroundings. One interviewee describes it as follows: “My father has a very negative approach. He is a very good person, but he is always holding himself and others back. A little bit like he afraid of trying anything new. I think one cannot enjoy one’s life like this. What is the point of spending yet another day the same way as the previous one.” The amount of reflexivity employed, in order to fit to the new environment had caused an interviewee to have a new and not so flattering look at her parents. Due to the amount of agency needed for tending their career, village boys sometimes tended to see their parents as backwards and not being able to show the same amount of agency. Village boys however had still not picked up the amount of reassurance characteristic to the first type and tended to be more doubtful of both their possibilities as well as their capabilities. Unlike childhood cosmopolites, they lacked the opinion that they naturally deserved their position, rather they also acknowledged the role of coincidence as well other people in their success. Achiever For an achiever going to UK was related to challenging oneself. Many of them focused on advancing their career, however their aim was not necessarily get to a high position, but rather gain new experiences. Hence move was not related to status seeking, but rather to acquiring new knowledge and proving oneself that “One can manage”. Typical sentence for achiever was “it was all too easy in Estonia”. This refers to the internalized neoliberalist stance, where achievements start to stand for one’s value as a person. An example follows: “I wanted to get away from this convenient home environment where everything is given to you and you do not have to manage on your own. It was like a jump to unknown‐ as challenge.” Relying on friends support and professional networks is for an achiever almost humiliating. Achiever wants to prove that (s)he can also do it on his own. From the previous quote we can also see that achievers are showing high degree of subjective agency. In their minds, there are no visible reasons, why such a quest for challenge should not succeed. Some achievers were also indeed coming from relatively advantageous background, but most were members of the middle class, seeking their way up. Making a career in foreign country was much more impressive, than making a career in one’s homeland. One interviewee put it subsequently: “To be good in your specialty in Estonia and to be known in London‐ it makes a difference.” One did not even have to achieve great success in UK, in order to be able to use it as a resource. Several authors have noted how in Eastern Europe, there mere fact of working in a Western country is something admirable (see). That holds true especially for the older generation who was limited in their freedom of mobility and West for them has remained “far away land”. Indeed, several of the achievers were aware that their career in Estonia would at this point in terms of position be much more impressive: “With all the contacts I have, I could be in a much better position in Estonia already. However I like the fact that I need to fight a lot over here.” Estonian labor market is one of the least hierarchical in Europe and has great mobility. For young this means better chances for advancement and also more responsible tasks. This interviewee is aware that thanks to her contacts as well as the specifics of Estonian labor market, she could have achieved much more already. However, she represents the typical signs of an achiever, by stating that having to have fought for her success, is something that makes it truly valuable for her. Achievers would usually reflect in terms of the skills and resources they needed to have in order to succeed. They would be aware of the competences they were lacking and contacts that had to be made. Most of their reflexive work therefore focused on acquiring language proficiency, learning new computer programs etc. Having middle class background and also coming from Estonia, such development mentality was very familiar to them and they did not need to considerably change their patterns of thoughts nor ways of behaving. Lonely rider The central topic of lonely riders self‐narrative was the acknowledgement of being able to only rely on themselves. Migration to UK was in a way then achieved against all the odds. Migration for a lonely rider was just another mountain to be conquered‐ presented as both pragmatic decision as well as the possibility to test oneself elsewhere. In the center of lonely riders narrative were pragmatic considerations. Unlike achievers, lonely riders however were also aware of the structural limitations and referring to these as well as describing how these were conquered, mainly thanks to their own persistence and strong will. “I have focused a lot on my work in life. I think I was already after high school very responsible, more responsible than most of the others. I also went directly to work, because I knew that I needed the money, so I calculated what kind of job would allow me still some qualifications and would bring in some money.” Lonely riders consider their hard‐working and persistence their main quality. The interviewees falling to this category hardly ever mentioned their wits or their intelligence as the sources of their success. This refers to specific habitual background. Unlike achievers, who were certain that they were intelligent and this had a great role in their success, lonely riders hardly ever mentioned their academic achievements, but were rather more aware that they were hardly “the smartest person in the room”. Their reflexive powers were also directed towards learning from colleagues and role models. “At work we had totally fantastic people‐ very smart and educated people‐ physists, mathematicians, I was only a rookie, I did not even have a university certificate. Working there I understood how little I know, I started to slowly work my way up. Thanks to these people I started to understand who I am and what I want from life.” In the preceding quote, the interviewee does not only refer to different work related skills that he acquired, but he also stresses that he became to know better his direction in life. This shows that in addition to accumulative reflexivity, the interviewee was also re‐constructing his view of self. He was made aware of the constraints in terms of the limits of his knowledge and he took a chance to learn from his older colleagues about the culture, education etc. The interviewee found himself in a new surrounding and therefore was forced to develop new sides of him. Lonely riders have an interesting relationship with agency. Although they are aware of the constraints and structures, thanks to overcoming these they have developed a strong belief in their own capabilities. They then form a group which thanks to its life history is sure that they will never hit the bottom. This group usually comes from either modest background or has grown up in a split family. Estonia is one of the countries in Europe with the greatest number of single parents. It is hard to give the exact percentage, but for instance in 2000, about 17% of all the newborns had father unidentified (in 1990, 12%) (Statistical Office). This percentage of course does not take into account those whose parents separated later on and the real percentage of single mothers is bigger. Hence several lonely riders were from the families with single parent where the attention given to them was therefore at times limited. Not only this but in several cases they also had to take care of their younger siblings. Because of such background they had cultivated a belief that they can only count on themselves in the life. Their migration was also partly a proof for themselves on how well they actually can handle the situation on their own. Soul searcher Soul searcher is perhaps the most varied out of all the types and joins together people from different backgrounds. The strongest characteristic for soul searcher is its understanding of migration as a key for finding oneself. Migration therefore is a personal road‐ road for fulfillment and fast identity. Soul searchers more than any other types were open to re‐constructive reflexivity as they were most interested in re‐defining themselves. For instance: “What I like about London is that one can really develop oneself here. Estonians are quite closed and not open to changes. Here you can meet so many different people, different cultures. I feel that I have learned so much about myself. When one is at home, it is always this convenience mode, you are living in your closed world. However how do you really get to know yourself in such a way?” Previous quote describes in a condensed way the motivations as well as the character of soul‐seeking migration. Soul‐seekers go in order to change, in order to find new ways of being and belonging. For many also boredom can be a motivating factor. Maripuu (2012) has noted that for several highly skilled Estonian women migration was foremost motivated by their boredom, which might be connected to both‐work or private‐life. Soul‐seekers then engage much more in re‐constructive reflection than accumulative. They are mainly interested in finding “the true core of their identity”. Such a longing for some true essence of self is very much aligned with the developments in Western societies and lifestyle migration, where individuals move also in order to “be true to themselves”. In a way this group then is more attracted to post‐materialist values. This group can be seen as the most risk‐taking out of all the groups. If other groups liked to ensure themselves work and accommodation before leaving, then some of the interviewees in this group were even spending some nights at the street. Several of the interviewees had also already experienced some ruptures in their life earlier‐ either through dissolution of the family, money issues etc. Therefore they were also ready to take the consequences of such a risky behavior. Some of the people were also not only eager to discover something new, but flee away from something old. Unhappy, with the previous life in Estonia, they decided to change the context, for instance: “My friend told me that if there is a pattern reemerging in your life, then you must change everything, start entirely from the beginning.“ Soul‐searching is then a lot related with identity crisis, several interviewees stated that before migrating they had had an identity crisis and were looking to try something different in their life. Although their background did not allow for easy decisions and very rarely were they for instance financially supported by their parents, still going abroad was more important than enjoying security. Soul‐searchers were often through their experiences aware of the structural constraints and difficulties and did not share the view of absolute individual agency. Having had some financial difficulties in UK, they were aware, that they do not have full control over their life, but in many cases, such realization did not seem to bother them. Soul searchers then more than any other group resemble life‐style and self‐development migrants from Western countries, interested in new experiences and cultural scene. However, it is important to pay attention to the background of such a group in Estonian context. A big role in their conquest for identity was played by their past events, which somehow had disturbed developing a steady identity. Being aware of such a background in Estonian case, poses also questions about the specific background of such Western migrants. Conclusion Most research on reflexive migration has so far focused on middle classes. Several authors even seem to connect reflexivity with middle classes only, whereas both working class and elite are seen as following the example of those around them. This article however argues that such an image can be misguiding and more detailed analysis in connection to class background and reflexive migration streams is needed. Here, five different groups in relation to the social origin as well as life history, were detected among highly‐skilled migrants. First group consisted of those coming from either cultural or economic elite and being exposed to cosmopolitanism already in their early ages. Second group represented individuals mostly from countryside, whose migration was related to their wish to discover the world beyond their home place. Third group was made out of middle‐class individuals who were heavily focused on achievements and challenges. Fourth group included those coming from background that was financially more challenging and they too were oriented on proving that they can make it. Finally, the last group joined those who saw migration as a self‐exploration and a search for “true identity”. The interviewees belonging to the last group had often experienced some turbulence either in the childhood or before the migration. The article demonstrates that although one can talk about the particular group among migrants which is oriented towards searching oneself, these individuals are not necessarily from middle classes. Rather, more important for their motivations are often the changing events experienced before the migration. Such life changing events can be seen as causing mismatch between habitus and field and therefore challenging interviewees’ self‐image. The article also showed that there are plenty of middle class migrants that are following societal discourses‐ individualism and achievements in Estonia. Surely one can argue, that due to the focus on Eastern European state, the findings might not be comparable with Western European cases. Even if we follow this line of argumentation and assume that search for authenticity and “true self” is more widespread among Western European middle classes, then in when does such a quest become habitual itself and devoid of any reflexivity? It is argued in this article that the relationship between class, reflexivity and migration needs further and more through attention. Current research demonstrates that it is often people from popular classes, who are moving upwards, that show more re‐constructive reflexivity than most middle class individuals. It might be helpful to divide as suggested by MacLean et al. (2012) reflexivity to two categories‐ re‐
constructive and accumulative, to understand the relationship between reflexive migration and classes in a more comprehensive way. This article then most of all intends to question the marriage between reflexive migration and middle classes and encourage some more research among both working classes and elite which would focus on how they engage in reflexive practices. In addition, there is also lack of gender based research in terms of reflexive migration. From the interview material it came out that middle‐class males were more likely to follow the traditional paths, whereas women were more open for self‐exploration. Publication bibliography Adams, Matthew (2003): The reflexive self and culture: a critique. In The British journal of sociology 54 (2), pp. 221–238. Anniste, Kristi; Tammaru, Tiit; Pungas, Enel; Paas, Tiiu (2012): Emigration After EU Enlargement: Was There a Brain Drain Effect in the Case of Estonia. In University of Tartu–Faculty of Economics and Business Administration Working Papers Series 87, p. 20. Archer, Margaret S. (2009): Conversations about reflexivity: Routledge. Bauman, Zygmunt (2013): Liquid modernity: John Wiley & Sons. Beck, Ulrich (2002): Individualization: Institutionalized individualism and its social and political consequences: Sage. Beck, Ulrich; Lau, Christoph (2005): Second modernity as a research agenda: theoretical and empirical explorations in the ‘meta‐change’of modern society. In The British journal of sociology 56 (4), pp. 525–
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