ABSTRACT
This introduction outlines the purpose of the book Citizen Rights, Migrant Rights and Civic Stratification. Its focus is on the differential granting of rights, which in its most basic form distinguishes between citizens and non-citizens, the latter group being principally made up of trans-national migrants. This distinction is just the beginning of a complex system for the unequal distribution of rights, which can be usefully analysed through the concept of civic stratification. In outlining this concept, David Lockwood (1996) sets out the way that the rights associated with citizenship can be a source of inequality by virtue of their formal granting or denial by the state, or by informal impediments to their full realisation. The outline to follow shows how the concept can be elaborated and extended to offer a framework for understanding the dynamic nature of rights in relation to both citizens and migrants.
