Review of Mobilities (by John Urry)

With Mobilities, John Urry sets out to conceptualize, promote and ultimately establish a ‘movement-driven social science’ (p. 18). The book’s core argument is that it is necessary to develop a new paradigm for the social sciences, based on the recognition that contemporary society is organized around practices which entail various forms of movement of people, ideas, information and objects, rather than a static set of relations, structures and institutions. Mobilities is the keystone publication for the interdisciplinary programme of research spearheaded by John Urry, which has its headquarters in the Centre for Mobilities Research at Lancaster University. While the centre’s website showcases a wide range of important publications by various scholars affiliated with it, Urry’s latest book is positioned as the flagship publication for the new mobilities paradigm. With this latest work, Urry’s goal is not only to conceptualize further the theoretical and methodological tenets of mobilities research, but also to establish firmly the status of the mobilities paradigm within the social sciences as one of prominence, if not centrality.