Thomas Faist and the Transnationalized Social Question

Abstract

Migration and social diversity have been hot topics in the first decades of the twenty-first century, both in the social sciences and in public debates. What has been labelled as the European refugee crisis of 2015 and then the Covid-19 pandemic since early 2020 have put people mobility even higher on the agenda of politicians, the media and citizens. All over the world, we have observed a dramatic national reterritorialization. To tight controls at international borders corresponded quickly expanding measures of surveillance within nation-states. Even if it has been written and published before the global spread of the disease. The Transnationalized Social Question (2019) addresses some of the most crucial issues of our times. Thomas Faist, an internationally recognized scholar in the field of migration, continues his reflection on transnationalism developed throughout his prolific production, in particular since the publication of The Volume and Dynamics of International Migration and Transnational Social Spaces (2000).