Managing Contradiction: Civic Stratification and Migrants’ Rights

Political and academic interest in cross-national migration has generated two very different and potentially polarized positions. One perspective emphasizes the continuing power or the nation state, while the other sees migration, and more specifically migrants’ rights, as the manifestation of an emergent ‘post-national’ society. This article offers a conceptual framework which addresses this polarization through the concept of civic stratification (Lockwood, 1996). In illustrating its application, the study shows how such an approach goes beyond a traditional citizenship framework (e.g., Marshall, 1950) in considering degrees of partial membership, but remains cautious with respect to claims about universal, transnational rights.