Social Progress and Academic Migration: Destination Canada

Journal of Social Research & Policy, Volume: 10, Issue: 1, pp. 83-99

Date: May 2019

ISSN: 2067-2640 (print), 2068-9861 (electronic)

Abstract: Like few other migratory movements, academic mobility reflects the synergies between knowledge production and wealth accumulation, intellectual work and social prestige, and migrants’ search for tolerant and progressive socio-cultural environments. Correspondingly, some of the wealthiest, and most powerful and cosmopolitan countries in the world are top destinations for academics. While the literature has problematized the historical relationship between power, knowledge, and scholarship in the context of the production of social and cultural norms, there has been less emphasis on how wealth, prestige, and social progress interact in the context of academic mobility. In this article, we explore how ideas of “social progress” related to specific welfare state policies and multiculturalism counterweight financial prospects and academic prestige in the choice of a destination where academics live and practice their profession. Based on data collected from interviews with forty-two academic researchers located in Germany Canada at different career stages and with varying migration histories, we explore how values of cultural tolerance and social equality make relatively less prestigious and less wealthy academic destinations more desirable. Our findings suggest that social progress constitutes a competitive advantage for attracting internationally mobile academics

Keywords: Social Policies; Academic Migration; Social Progress; Welfare State; Academic Hierarchies