The Global Sociology Book Award is presented to the book "Migration et classement social. Enquête auprès de migrants marocains au Québec" (Presses de l'Université de Montréal edition) by Professor Stéphanie Garneau of the University of Ottawa.
The book examines the upward mobility and social reproduction strategies of Moroccan migrants and their families. With the expansion of Moroccan migration, the latter are increasingly choosing Quebec as their host province. Drawing on qualitative data from interviews with Moroccan migrants in Quebec, those who have returned permanently and those who are in a state of in-between indecision (to return or to stay in Quebec), the author shows the limits of the economistic bias that prevails both in studies of the causes of migration flows, and in Canadian and Quebec public immigration policies.
Drawing on her mastery of theoretical approaches to the migratory phenomenon and on migrants' own words, the author masterfully demonstrates that the economic factor (finding a job) cannot be completely ignored, but must not be overestimated. For Moroccans, migration is more a strategy of social positioning within a stratified Moroccan society that offers limited opportunities for upward mobility and social reproduction. Migration becomes a family or individual strategy to unblock a blocked upward mobility path, in order to protect oneself from frustration and precariousness. For some migrants, settling in Quebec can be a success in the sense that it leads to reclassification or even social advancement when there is a match between training, professional skills and the job held. For others, the feeling of being downgraded by migration and the possibilities of success in Morocco may lead to a return.
Although Stéphanie Garneau's exceptionally conceptually rich book deals with migration dynamics in the Morocco-Quebec transnational space, it is at once a sociology of Moroccan social stratification, a sociology of family transnationalism, and a critical sociology of migration dynamics and Canadian and Quebec public immigration policies. This book represents a turning point in the critique of economistic bias. It is innovative, well written and allows us to take a fresh look at immigration and immigrants in Canada.