Ethnicity and globalization. (Book Reviews).

Ethnicity and Globalization. By STEPHEN CASTLES. London: Sage 2000. Pp.xii + 228, biblio, index. [pounds sterling]47.50 (cloth) ISBN 0-7619-5611-5; [pounds sterling]16.99 (paper) ISBN 0-7619-5612-3.

These essays on ethnicity and international migration present a 'greatest hits' collection, an overview of the evolution of 'migration studies' as a quasi-discipline, and an academic autobiography of Stephen Castles. The book is timely because of immigration's heightened political salience. That said, Castles argues that many migration scholars seize upon the issue anew with the study of international migration subject to reinvention as it ascends the political agenda without careful scrutiny of earlier work.

Section I of the book explores the history of European migration by analysing the 'guestworkers' that came to Europe after the Second World War. Why did the guests' stay? The opening essay on the function of labour migration to Europe is striking for its Marxist stance and a conclusion that muses on harnessing the revolutionary potential of migrant workers. The focus is on exclusion with little attention paid to legal and bureaucratic processes that enabled migrants to access legal and social rights in European countries and negotiate a form of inclusion. Part II of the book explores the globalisation of migration. It begins with a masterly overview of migration and minorities in Europe. Section III analyses multiculturalism as a ...