Understanding the case of Barcelona from the “Spanish model” of international migration

Commentary on “Destination Barcelona: migration processes in a historical and contemporary perspective” by Sònia Parella, Clara Piqueras, and Carlota Solé

Bibliographic Data

ID11635188
AuthorsLorenzo Cachón (Complutense University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain, corresponding author)
Year2023
Volume46
Issue11
Pages2315-2324
Publication date2023-02-16
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherRoutledge (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.2023.2176247
OpenAlexW4321079916
LanguageEN
References cited9

The first part of the text addresses three contextual points to better understand immigration in Barcelona: beginning by asserting that there is no “Spanish exceptionalism,” but there are different times and tempos in social change; continuing by highlighting the specificity of Catalonia (and Barcelona) within Spain; and then describing the historical and sociological characteristics in the construction of the “immigrant Spain.” The second part of the article offers three complementary considerations for understanding the social processes that have turned Barcelona into a city of immigration: (1) the process of dispersing immigrants to satellite cities in the metropolitan area; (2) the similarity of the construction of immigration as a “social problem” in both domestic and international migration; and (3) the way some features of the “Spanish model” in the field of international migration help explain the experience of Barcelona

Economic geography · Exceptionalism · Field (mathematics · Geography · Immigration · Metropolitan area · Perspective (graphical · Political science · Sociology · French Urban and Social Studies · Law · Migration, Aging, and Tourism Studies · Multiculturalism, Politics, Migration, Gender

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