A study of Italian young adults’ transnational mobility to Australia: The reproduction of unequal trajectories in the host society

In this article, we examine the mobility patterns of a group of Italian young adults migrating to Australia in the search of new education, labour and lifestyle opportunities. The article represents a contribution to the study of the link between youth mobility and unequal trajectories through the elaboration of a new conceptual framework based on the theory of epistemological fallacy that points to the growing disjuncture between the expectations of individual autonomy and the unequal distribution of resources to achieve them. This conceptual framework contributes to elucidate the paradox of mobility that drives young people between the aspiration to mobility and the reproduction of the structural factors that influence their success. We draw on data from a mixed methods research project examining the mobility of Italian young adults to Australia. Participants imagined mobility as a way of exiting insecurities and precarities in their local context to a more open and meritocratic society, but the analysis of their trajectories in the host country reflects similar patterns of stratification as experienced in the context of origin.