SP335      Half Unit
Migration: Current Research, Critical Approaches

This information is for the 2025/26 session.

Course Convenor

Availability

This interdisciplinary course addresses contemporary global migration issues with reference to both developing and developed country contexts and to different patterns and forms of migration. The course examines the relationship between migration and social and public policies, including the implications for how migrants and migration are conceptualised, for inequalities in the movement of people, for welfare systems, and for the impacts of migration in countries of origin and destination. It draws on current approaches to researching migration, and considers the implications of those approaches.  

15 hours of lectures and 15 hours of classes in the Autumn Term.

This course has a reading week in Week 6 of Autumn Term.

All teaching will be in accordance with the LSE Academic Code which specifies a "minimum of two hours taught contact time per week when the course is running in the Autumn Term (AT) and/or Winter Term (WT)". Social Policy courses are predominantly taught through a combination of in-person lectures and in-person classes/seminars. Further information will be provided by the Course Convenor in the first lecture of the course.

Essay in Autumn Term Week 5

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the AT.

• Goldin, I., Cameron, G.  & Balarajan, M. (2012) Exceptional People: How Migration Shaped Our World and Will Define Our Future, Princeton University Press. CHAPTER 1
• Shachar, A. (2009) The Birthright Lottery: Citizenship and Global Inequality, Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press. INTRODUCTION.
• Migali, S. and Scipioni, M. (2019) “Who’s About to Leave? A Global Survey of Aspirations and Intentions to Migrate.” International Migration, 57: 181-200.
• Laczko, F.  and Aghazarm, C. (2009) Migration, Environment and Climate Change: Assessing the Evidence. Geneva: International Organization for Migration (IOM).
• Donato, K. et al. (2006) "A Glass Half Full? Gender in Migration Studies", International Migration Review, 40: 1, 3-26.
• Lee, J. et al. (2014) "The International Migration Review at 50: Reflecting on Half a Century of International Migration Research and Looking Ahead", International Migration Review, 48: Anniversary Issue, S3–S36.
• Ambrosini, M. and Van der Leun, J. (2015) “Implementing Human Rights: Civil Society and Migration Policies”, Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Studies, 13:2, 103-115.
• Czaika, M. and De Haas, H. (2013) "The Effectiveness of Migration Policies", Population and Development Review, 39: 3, 487-508.

The reading list includes required and supplementary readings that demonstrate current debates and approaches. Readings will be complemented by podcasts, videos and interactive materials relating to the readings. A film showing will also provide an early point of reference and discussion.

Essay (100%, 2000 words) in Autumn Term Week 9

The course is assessed by one summative assignment (100% weighting). This is a written essay that should address one question from a set provided.