Course Descriptions

1036.4020.01  European Politics and Migration
Ina Kubbe ​
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​​More than a million migrants and refugees crossed into Europe since 2015. Yet, this was not the first wave of migration and Europe’s governments and citizens are still looking for ways how to face and meet the challenges and opportunities involved. The main purpose of this course is to provide students with an overview of the politics of migration in contemporary Europe. From a comparative perspective, we will have a look at Europe’s actors, the role of institutions, policies, policy-making, public opinion and certain issues and debates over migration in different countries. The course seeks to answer the following major questions: (1) what are the causes, effects and challenges of migration in European countries and (2) how do policy makers respond to these effects?​

 

1036.4025.01 On the interface between sociology and economics in migration research
Oded Stark 
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The choices made by individuals - including migration and migration-related choices - are influenced by the individuals’ preferences. A significant part of the material to be studied in this course, in particular the topics of integration, location, and assimilation, builds on the notion that individuals’ preferences are social in nature. This perspective incorporates the concepts of social space, relative income, and relative deprivation. Another significant part of the course material, such as interactions between human capital acquisition and migration, and the formation of migration and of migration-related policies, draws on neoclassical economic preferences, thus presenting the challenge of injecting social perspectives into what otherwise constitutes bricks-and-mortar economic analysis.
The readings related to the themes covered in the course are to be found, under “Publications,” in Oded Stark’s website: http://ostark.uni-klu.ac.at/