Foreword

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Helmut Qualtinger was in his day still in a position to sing about the famous tautology of mobility fetishism: “I don’t know where I’m going, but that only means I’ll get there faster.” Today, mobility is more than ever the buzzword of our times, but this concept can take on many different colors depending on the context, ranging from survival strategy for the individual in a deregulated working world to the profit-oriented relocation of major corporations. Job openings here, unemployment there: the economy requires a mobile workforce, and politics promotes this through mobility bonuses. Not enough workers on the one hand, but restrictions for “foreigners” on the other: The economy demands the opening up of labor markets, but politics is divided when the mobility of some comes into conflict with the mobility of others. “Our” companies are busy buying up Southeast Europe, but we prefer an “Austrian solution” when it comes to selling something here. Who or what goes where and under what conditions, and which agents steer these movements? … >>