Lifestyle migrants as Eliasian ‘outsiders’: The case of Swedish emigrants to Portugal

Abstract

This paper discusses the emigration process by the Swedes permanently residing in Portugal and their emotional ties to the Swedish society. The focus is on those who have no ambition nor desire to keep up any ties with Sweden after they have emigrated to Portugal. Hitherto, the non-intention to return is, both empirically and theoretically, underexplored in migration research. To enrich the conceptual framework, we incorporate Hirschmann's theory on loyalty, voice, and exit with Elias's established/outsider-theory. The findings suggest that many of the Swedes in Portugal with no intentions to return were Eliasian ‘outsiders’ before leaving Sweden. We conclude that all lifestyle migrants do not migrate to'practice privilege’ or'self-fulfilment’, partly contesting what is known about lifestyle migrations associated with European north-south migrations; some have done a Hirschmann ‘exit’, left their native country and try to prosper somewhere else. The added value of this paper is its potential to explain why emigrants choose not to maintain ties with their country of origin.