Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism pp 1–16Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Immigration and Imperialism

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:

Synonyms

Migration; Refugees; Asylum; Imperialism; Remittances

Definition

This chapter discusses the contemporary role of migration within imperialist capitalism, with particular attention to how migration is structured by borders.

Introduction

While migration has always been a feature of human societies, it has taken specific characteristics within imperialist capitalism. Although migration is often presented as an anomaly or disruption to the “normal” functioning of capitalist societies, it can be more accurately understood as “an integral element of the evolving process of production restructuring and working-class reconfiguration” (Pradella and Cillo 2015: 47; also Hanieh 2018). Borders structure imperialism, enabling multiple regimes of accumulation, differentiated geographically and socially.

Migration has taken various forms throughout the development of imperialism; this chapter focuses predominantly on the contemporary context, since the global financial crisis of 2007–2008....

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

References

  • Alberti, G. (2017). The government of migration through workfare in the UK: Towards a shrinking space of mobility and social rights? Movements, 3(1).

    Google Scholar 

  • Alberti, G., & Però, D. (2018). Migrating industrial relations: migrant workers’ initiative within and outside trade unions. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 56, 693–715. https://movementsjournal.org/issues/04.bewegungen/08.alberti–government-migration-workfare-uk-mobility-social-rights.html

  • Anderson, B. (2010a). Migration, immigration controls and the fashioning of precarious workers. Work, Employment and Society, 24(2), 300–317.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, B. (2010b). British jobs for British workers?: Understanding demand for migrant workers in a recession. The Whitehead Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, 11(Winter/Spring), 103–114.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ashe, S. D., & Nazroo, J. (2016). Equality, diversity and racism in the workplace: A qualitative analysis of the 2015 race at work survey. Manchester: ESRC Centre on Dynamics of Ethnicity, University of Manchester.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakewell, O. (2011). Migration and development in Sub-Saharan Africa. In N. Phillips (Ed.), Migration in the global political economy (pp. 121–141). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bales, K. (2017). Immigration raids, employer collusion and the Immigration Act 2016. Industrial Law Journal, 46(2), 279–288.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Banks, A., Hamroush, S., Taylor, C., & Hardie, M. (2014). An international perspective on the UK – gross domestic product. London: Office for National Statistics.

    Google Scholar 

  • BIS. (2017). Trade union membership 2016: Statistical bulletin. London: Department for Business, Innovation and Skills.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bloch, A., & McKay, S. (2016). Living on the margins: Undocumented migrants in a global city. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Carbonella, A., & Kasmir, S. (2018). Introduction. In S. Kasmir & A. Carbonella (Eds.), Blood and fire: Toward a global anthropology of labor (pp. 1–29). New York: Berghahn.

    Google Scholar 

  • Castles, S., & Kosack, G. (1973). Immigrant workers and class structure in Western Europe. London: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • CIPD. (2013). The state of migration: employing migrant workers. Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clough, R. (2010). Trade unions in Britain: Unparalleled stagnation and decay. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, (217). http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/britain/labourtrade-unions/3378trade-unions-in-britain-unparalleled-stagnation-and-decay-frfi-217octnov-2010

  • Clough, R. (2014). Labour: A party fit for imperialism (2nd ed.). London: Larkin Publications.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cope, Z. (2015). Divided world divided class: Global political economy and the stratification of labour under capitalism (2nd ed.). Montreal: Kersplebedeb.

    Google Scholar 

  • Corporate Watch. (2018). The UK border regime: A critical guide. London: Freedom Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Crawley, H., Düvell, F., Jones, K., McMahon, S., & Sigona, N. (2018). Unravelling Europe’s ‘Migration Crisis’: Journeys over land and sea. Bristol: Policy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross, H. (2013). Migrants, borders and global capitalism: West African labour mobility and EU borders. Abingdon: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Datta, K., McIlwaine, C., Evans, Y., Herbert, J., May, J., & Wills, J. (2007a). From coping strategies to tactics: London’s low-pay economy and migrant labour. British Journal of Industrial Relations, 45(2), 404–432.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Datta, K., McIlwaine, C., Wills, J., Evans, Y., Herbert, J., & May, J. (2007b). The new development finance or exploiting migrant labour? Remittance sending among low-paid migrant workers in London. International Development Planning Review, 29(1), 43–67.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delgado Wise, R., & Márquez Covarrubias, H. (2013). Labor and migration: A pathway out of poverty or neocapitalism? In J. Petras & H. Veltmeyer (Eds.), Imperialism and capitalism in the twenty-first century (pp. 117–133). Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dustmann, C., & Frattini, T. (2014). The fiscal effects of immigration to the UK. The Economic Journal. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecoj.12181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farris, S. R. (2015). Migrants’ regular army of labour: Gender dimensions of the impact of the global economic crisis on migrant labor in Western Europe. The Sociological Review, 63(1), 121–143.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Feldman, G. (2012). The migration apparatus: Security, labor, and policymaking in the European Union. Stanford: Stanford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Foster, J. B., McChesney, R. W., & Jonna, R. J. (2011). The global reserve army of labor and the new imperialism. Monthly Review, 11(1), 1–31.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gall, G. (2009). The engineering construction strikes in Britain, 2009. Capital and Class, 36(3), 411–431.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hanieh, A. (2018). The contradictions of global migration. Socialist Register, 55 (Socialist Register 2019: A World Turned Upside Down?).

    Google Scholar 

  • Hardy, J. (2008). Polish-UK migration: institutions, capital and the response of organised labour. Paper presented at the EAEPE Conference ‘Labour, Institutions and Growth in a Global Knowledge Economy’, Rome.

    Google Scholar 

  • ICIBI. (2016). An inspection of the ‘hostile environment’ measures relating to driving licences and bank accounts Independent. Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jones, R. (2016). Violent borders: Refugees and the right to move. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Karakayali, S., & Rigo, E. (2010). Mapping the European space of circulation. In N. D. Genova & N. Peutz (Eds.), The deportation regime: Sovereignty, space, and the freedom of movement (pp. 123–144). Durham, NC: Duke University Press

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenin, V. I. (1913/1977). Capitalism and workers’ Immigration lenin collected works (Vol. 19, pp. 454–457). Moscow: Progress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lenin, V. I. (1915/2005). Opportunism, and the Collapse of the Second International. Marxists Internet Archive. https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1915/dec/x01.htm

  • Lenin, V. I. (1916/1975). Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism. Moscow: Progress.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lewis, H., Dwyer, P., Hodkinson, S., & Waite, L. (2015). Hyper-precarious lives: Migrants, work and forced labour in the Global North. Progress in Human Geography, 39(5), 580–600.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marx, K. (1890/1967). Capital, volume 1. London: Lawrence and Wishart.

    Google Scholar 

  • Meardi, G., Martin, A., & Riera, M. L. (2012). Constructing uncertainty: Unions and migrant labour in construction in Spain and the UK. Journal of Industrial Relations, 54(1), 5–21.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mezzadra, S., & Neilson, B. (2013). Border as method, or, the multiplication of labour. Durham: Duke University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Miles, R. (1986). Labour migration, racism and capital accumulation in western Europe since 1945: An overview. Capital and Class, 10, 49–86.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mishra, P. (2018). Age of anger: A history of the present. London: Penguin.

    Google Scholar 

  • Morris, M. (2017). Striking the right deal: UK-EU migration and the Brexit negotiations. IPPR.

    Google Scholar 

  • Norfield, T. (2016). The city: London and the global power of finance. London: Verso.

    Google Scholar 

  • Oliveri, F. (2012). Migrants as activist citizens in Italy: Understanding the new cycle of struggles. Citizenship Studies, 16(5–6), 793–806.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Oliveri, F. (2018). Racialization and counter-racialization in times of crisis: Taking migrant struggles in Italy as a critical standpoint on race. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 41(10), 1855–1873.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • ONS. (2015). United Kingdom balance of payments: The Pink Book 2015.

    Google Scholar 

  • Paine, S. (1977). The changing role of migrant workers in the advanced capitalist economies of western Europe. In R. T. Griffiths (Ed.), Government, business and labour in European capitalism (pp. 199–225). London: Europotentials Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Petras, J., & Veltmeyer, H. (2013). Imperialism and capitalism in the twenty-first century. Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Phizacklea, A., & Miles, R. (1980). Labour and racism. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul.

    Google Scholar 

  • Piper, N. (2011). Toward a gendered political economy of migration. In N. Phillips (Ed.), Migration in the global political economy (pp. 61–81). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Pradella, L., & Cillo, R. (2015). Immigrant labour in Europe in times of crisis and austerity: An international political economy analysis. Competition & Change, 19(2), 145–160.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Richmond, A. H. (2002). Globalization: Implications for immigrants and refugees. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 25(5), 707–727.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schierup, C.-U., & Castles, S. (2011). Migration, minorities, and welfare states. In N. Phillips (Ed.), Migration in the global political economy (pp. 15–40). Boulder: Lynne Rienner Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

  • Schuster, L. (2003). The use and abuse of political asylum. London: Frank Cass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sivanandan, A. (1991). A different hunger – writings on black resistance. London: Pluto.

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. (2015). The political economy of outsourcing. In L. Waite, G. Craig, H. Lewis, & K. Skrivankova (Eds.), Vulnerability, exploitation and migrants: Insecure work in a globalised economy (pp. 28–43). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Smith, J. (2016). Imperialism in the twenty-first century: Globalization, super-exploitation, and capitalism’s final crisis. New York: Monthly Review Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sporton, D. (2013). ‘They control my life’: The role of local recruitment agencies in east European migration to the UK. Population, Space and Place, 19(5), 443–458.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Starosta, G. (2016). Revisiting the new international division of labour thesis. In G. Charnock & G. Starosta (Eds.), The new international division of labour: Global transformation and uneven development (pp. 79–103). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, K. (2015). Social reproduction and migrant domestic labour in Canada and the UK: Towards a multi-dimensional concept of subordination. In L. Waite, G. Craig, H. Lewis, & K. Skrivankova (Eds.), Vulnerability, exploitation and migrants: Insecure work in a globalised economy (pp. 59–71). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Strikwerda, C., & Guerin-Gonzales, C. (1998). Labor, migration and politics. In C. Guerin-Gonzales & C. Strikwerda (Eds.), The politics of immigrant workers: Labor activism and migration in the world economy since 1830 (2nd ed., pp. 3–78). New York: Holmes and Meier.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vickers, T. (2012). Refugees, capitalism and the British state: Implications for social workers, volunteers and activists. Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vickers, T. (2014). Developing an independent anti-racist model for asylum rights organising in England. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 37(8), 1427–1447.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vickers, T. (2019). Borders, migration and class: Producing immigrants and workers. Bristol: Bristol University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vickers, T., Clayton, J., Davison, H., Hudson, L., Cañadas, M., Biddle, P., et al. (2016). ‘New Migrants’ in the North East workforce: Final report. Nottingham Trent University.

    Google Scholar 

  • Virdee, S. (2014). Racism, class and the racialized outsider. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wemyss, G. (2015). Everyday bordering and raids every day: The invisible empire and metropolitan borderscapes. In C. Brambilla, J. Laine, J. W. Scott, & G. Bocchi (Eds.), Borderscaping: Imaginations and practices of border making (pp. 187–195). Farnham: Ashgate.

    Google Scholar 

  • Williams, M., Palmer, S., & Clapton, G. (1979). Racism, imperialism and the working class. Revolutionary Communist, 9, 8–43.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wills, J., Datta, K., Evans, Y., Herbert, J., May, J., & McIlwaine, C. (2010). Global cities at work: New migrant divisions of labour. London: Pluto.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2018). Migration and remittances: Recent developments and outlook. http://www.knomad.org/sites/default/files/2018-04/Migration%20and%20Development%20Brief%2029.pdf

  • Yaffe, D. (2006). Britain: Parasitic and decaying capitalism. Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism!, (194). http://www.revolutionarycommunist.org/index.php/britain/1042-britain-parasitic-and-decayingcapitalism-frfi-194-dec-2006-jan-2007

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology, Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham, UK

    Tom Vickers

Authors
  1. Tom Vickers
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tom Vickers .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Center for Worker Education, Brooklyn College, New York, NY, USA

    Immanuel Ness

  2. Independent Scholar, Belfast, UK

    Zak Cope

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Vickers, T. (2019). Immigration and Imperialism. In: Ness, I., Cope, Z. (eds) The Palgrave Encyclopedia of Imperialism and Anti-Imperialism. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_35-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-91206-6_35-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-91206-6

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference HistoryReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Humanities

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation