This presentation is divided into two parts. I first outline the rationale for adopting longitudinal and life course approaches to the study of spatial mobility, and briefly illustrate how these perspectives are implemented in the ERC LIFELONGMOVE project. I then present work-in-progress from an empirical study that examines how residential contexts and residential mobility jointly shape socio-economic trajectories. Individuals’ socio-economic outcomes reflect both persistence and change in their residential environments, yet prior research has typically analysed neighborhood disadvantage and mobility separately and within specific life stages. Using Swedish longitudinal register data for cohorts born 1990–1993, this study traces residential trajectories from birth and investigates their association with economic and occupational (dis)advantage in early adulthood. Preliminary findings reveal that mobility magnifies context effects. Prolonged exposure to disadvantaged areas is most harmful when accompanied by residential moves, pointing to a compound penalty of instability and resource-poor environments. Childhood moves tend to have detrimental consequences, whereas adult moves are generally opportunity-enhancing—except when they occur into or within disadvantaged contexts, where the mobility premium weakens or reverses. Together, these results highlight the need to consider mobility and context jointly across the life course to better understand the reproduction of socio-economic inequality.
Presented by:
Sergi Vidal (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona)
Date & time:
March 4, 2026 12:30 pm - March 4, 2026 1:30 pm
Venue:
Online
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