The Eurostars go global: young Europeans’ migration to Asia for distinction and alternative life paths

This paper describes young Europeans’ labour migration to Asian global cities as one emerging consequence of European bureaucrats’ vision of the ideal citizen. Qualitative interviews with highly educated European millennials working in Singapore and Tokyo demonstrate that they have internalised mobility as a norm. They perceive international experience as beneficial for their career and self-development and view the lack of such experience as a personal deficiency. They pursue migration to socio-culturally distant Asian cities as a means of distinguishing themselves; in addition, these cities offer good employment and a high living standard whereas Europe’s economic power is decreasing. I argue that these migrants are using mobility to Asia as a practice of middle-class reproduction. They are avoiding constraints on their cosmopolitan and professional aspirations in their home countries by moving to locations where they anticipate that the cultural and social capital gained during previous overseas sojourns will be more valued. The longitudinal research design reveals that fear of immobility at home deters many of these ‘ideal’ young Europeans from returning and instead propels them towards on-going geographical mobility. I conclude by problematising the celebration of mobility in discourse on Europeanisation and higher education and by reflecting on the implications of this new mobility pattern.