Introduction

The introduction sets up the book’s main idea, objectives and structure. It positions the main argument in the context of scholarship on racism and neoliberalism in migration studies and points out the existing gaps in research and knowledge. It also defines the category of middling migrants and emphasises that migrants, who are ‘in the middle’, neither ‘high’ nor ‘low’ in the assumed skills hierarchy, are important mobile actors, who often seem to be neglected in migration research. This chapter also outlines research settings and methods by presenting research participants and their recruitment, the role of research assistants, methodological approaches and finally the ways research material was analysed. The chapter ends with the outline and a brief description of the structure of the book.