Learning the city by experiences and images

Abstract

"In this chapter, I analyze the process of the search for and selection of a residence with respect to the highly mobile German financial managers in London and Singapore. It shall be shown that the integration into social networks, that is, the social capital, and the identity-related direct local experiences are particularly important for the selection of a residence and its location.<br> My research is based on 40 interviews conducted in a research project, which was concluded in 2008. Based on the principles of the grounded theory and the subsequent development of a theory out of the data (...), German financial managers from various financial companies in various management positions were surveyed in semistructured interviews in London and Singapore. For this chapter, the interviews of the male interviewees were analyzed. With this comparative analysis of the practice of searching for a residence as exhibited by male German financial managers in London and Singapore, this chapter follows the argument that the previously neglected comparative approach brings out the specifics of the individual urban localities (...), which can then be used for migration studies (...)." (Text excerpt, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Cite article

Meier, L. (2015): Learning the city by experiences and images. German finance managers encounters in London and Singapore. In: L. Meier (Hrsg.) (2015): Migrant professionals in the city : local encounters, identities and inequalities (Routledge Advances in Sociology, 130), p. 59-74.