Transitions to adulthood in Romania: a diachronic and intergenerational approach to mobility regimes

Although internal and international mobility are two phenomena that have long involved the Romanian population, they have rarely been studied as interrelated. Different forms of mobility have assumed such social relevance in local contexts that they also play an important role in young men’s transition to adulthood. In this article, I demonstrate how domestic and international mobility are interconnected in the local system of meanings of young men growing up in three different historical periods: in the 1970s, in the 1990s and in the last ten years. Young men consider their mobility or immobility practices in continuity, but also in contrast to those of the previous generations. Their choices are particularly complex today because mobility patterns have become more diverse, encompassing additional internal and international destinations, short term and circular migration, as well as onward and return migration.