Relatively affluent individuals from various corners of the globe are increasingly choosing to migrate, spurred on by the promise of a better and more fulfilling way of life within their destination. Despite its increasing scale, migration academics have yet to consolidate and establish lifestyle migration as a subfield of theoretical enquiry, until now. This volume offers a dynamic and holistic analysis of contemporary lifestyle migrations, exploring the expectations and aspirations which inform and drive migration alongside the realities of life within the destination. It also recognizes the structural conditions (and constraints) which frame lifestyle migration, laying the groundwork for further intellectual enquiry. Through rich empirical case studies this volume addresses this important and increasingly common form of migration in a manner that will interest scholars of mobility, migration, lifestyle and culture across the social sciences.

Contents: Lifestyle migration: escaping to the good life?, Karen O'Reilly and Michaela Benson; When a trip to adulthood becomes a lifestyle: Western lifestyle migrants in Varanasi, India, Mari Korpela; Pursuing the good life: American narratives of travel and a search for refuge, Brian A. Hoey; Romance tourists, foreign wives or retirement migrants? Cross-cultural marriage in Florence, Italy, Catherine Trundle; Your home in Spain: residential strategies in international retirement migration, Per Gustafson; Social capital in the sun: bonding and bridging social capital among British retirees, Maria Angeles Casado-Diaz; The children of the hunters: self-realization projects and class reproduction, Karen O'Reilly; A desire for difference: British lifestyle migration to Southwest France, Michaela Benson; Taking the risk: the British in Didim, Turkey, Ozlem Nudrali and Karen O'Reilly; Afterword, Jacqueline Waldren; Index.

About the Editor: Michaela Benson is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, UK and Karen O' Reilly is Reader in Sociology at Loughborough University, UK

Reviews: 'In setting out the commonalities linking a diverse array of migrants, this welcome new collection convincingly establishes "lifestyle migration" as a phenomenon richly deserving of scholarly attention. It is a very timely and engaging contribution to mapping the landscape of contemporary mobility.'
Vered Amit, Concordia University, Canada

'This is an important book for scholars of contemporary personal growth, tourism, mobility and globalization. The editors develop the useful concept of lifestyle migration, which is illustrated by excellent ethnographic chapters about newly chosen lives in such places as Varanasi, Florence, rural Michigan and the Mediterranean.'
Nelson Graburn, University of California, USA, and London Metropolitan University, UK

Michaela Benson on Academia

Karen O'Reilly has a personal website/blog .

Lifestyle Migration Hub.

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Full contents list

Chapter 1 - Lifestyle Migration: Escaping to the Good Life?

Index