ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on one particular and likely source of influences, namely, the impact of migration and given that around 95 per cent remains at home. However, migrants' experiences also differ markedly and this is likely to affect their capacity to demonstrate various cosmopolitan orientations. Economic migrants from poor countries tend to bring skills and cultural resources that do not always find a ready market and they may face racism and discrimination. Some migrants may have greater stocks of cultural and other resources which predispose them to cope with migration. The lived experiences of skilled migrants develop their own momentum and may propel individuals along a trajectory of personal and social change which either awakens cosmopolitan orientations or intensifies those they already possess. The chapter explores the interpersonal relationships formed by the Manchester respondents and the pathways they often followed in building a transnational social milieu.