In memory of Stephen Castles: Studying migration as part of social transformation

Stephen Castles' scholarship examines the dynamics of international migration, always in relation to broader trends in the political economy of the countries and regions in concern. In this short piece, I reflect on his scholarship, particularly since the 2000s and 2010s—a period I had the chance to work with him. Throughout the 2000s, Stephen Castles worked at the University of Oxford, as the Director of the Refugee Studies Centre (RSC), and later as the Director of the International Migration Institute (IMI). These were also the years he started advocating to study (forced) migration as not a standalone subject but as part of broader processes of social transformation. He (Castles, 2015, 4) conceptualized social transformation as ‘[a] shift in social relationships so profound that it affects virtually all forms of social interaction, and all individuals and communities simultaneously.’