Social research on migration has traditionally focused on the factors that determine the decision to emigrate. Much less frequently has the analysis been reversed to focus on the decision not to leave and the reasons for staying put. Jacob Richard Thomas’s research takes this alternative perspective, yielding findings of considerable empirical and theoretical interest. In his recently published book, Denial, Deterrence, and Disenchantment: Why Many Do Not Immigrate (Cambridge University Press, 2026), Thomas explores these issues through an extensive study of mainland China, a context of enormous relevance that nevertheless remains relatively little known. By extending the traditional push-pullmodel, the book also shows how socio-economic resources and social ties can paradoxically both facilitate and hinder mobility, highlighting the inequalities that shape migration opportunities.

Throughout history and over the course of their lives, human beings have classified—and continue to classify—themselves and others, seeking to make sense of the world but often ending up creating forms of discrimination. From the origins of the distinction between “us” and “them” to categories such as people, class, race, language and caste, Andrea Graziosi shows how these labels reflect fears, desires, power relations and identities that change over time. Human classification is not merely a theoretical exercise: it permeates politics, institutions, bureaucracies, everyday relationships, and our choices and preferences, particularly in the new mixed societies that have emerged at the intersection of demographic decline, the diverging timelines of economic and population growth, and large-scale migration flows.

Bringing together perspectives from history, law, politics, sociology and current affairs, Andrea Graziosi explores the uses and abuses of human classification, its usefulness, its violent consequences and its subtler forms. Do the categories we use to understand the world and act within it ultimately restrict our freedom to act and to understand?

Andrea Graziosi is Professor Emeritus of Contemporary History at the University of Naples Federico II. His most recent publications, all published by Il Mulino, include Il futuro contro (2019), Occidenti e modernità. Vedere un mondo nuovo(2023) and Il ritorno della razza (2025).

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