Ettore Recchi

contact : ettore.recchi(at)sciencespo.fr
Tel: 01.45.49.54.11 - office: B.203

PUBLICATIONS - RESEAUX SOCIAUX

Ettore Recchi is professor of Sociology at Sciences Po Paris as well as part-time Professor at the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) of the EUI (Florence) and the Institut Convergences Migrations (Paris).
A methodologically versatile scholar, he has published more than 150 journal articles, book chapters, edited volumes and monographs.
His papers feature in journals of sociology (e.g., European Sociological Review), political science (e.g., West European Politics), European studies (e.g., Journal of Common Market Studies), migration studies (e.g., International Migration Review), geography (e.g., Political Geography), global studies (e.g., Global Networks) and data science (e.g., EPJ Data Science).
He was awarded the 2020 prize of the American Sociological Association for best international paper in the Global and Transnational Section.
His latest book is Everyday Europe: Social Transnationalism in an Unsettled Continent (Policy Press, 2019), a co-authored work on European integration through geographical and virtual mobilities.
He has directed several national and international projects on free movement in Europe, transnationalism, migration, and the impact of Covid-19 on social life and mobility.

Research topics

Recchi’s core research agenda revolves around issues of human mobility, investigating the drivers and consequences surrounding the unique expansion of individuals’ movements in space of our age. He questions the existential, political, sociocultural and environmental sustainability of spatial mobility through micro- and macro-sociological empirical analyses. At the micro-level, his research delves into the study of the spatiality of individuals’ lifeworlds (or ‘space-sets’). At the macro-level, he leads the Global Mobilities Project at MPC/EUI – a project dedicated to collecting, systematizing and analyzing worldwide data on population movements and their underpinning social, economic, and political conditions.

Recent publications (selection)

• 2024 (with Mirna Safi), (Ed.), Handbook of Human Mobility and Migration, Edward Elgar, 2024, 320 p.
• 2023, "Per una sociologia della mobilità umana", Mondi Migranti, n° 2023/3, p. 9-29. Available online
• 2023 (with Katharina Tittel), "The Empirical Study of Human Mobility: Potentials and Pitfalls of Using Traditional and Digital Data", In: E. Bertoni, M. Fontana, L. Gabrielli, S. Signorelli, M. Vespe (ed.), Handbook of Computational Social Science for Policy, Springer, p. 437-464. Available in Open Access
• 2023 (with Emanuel Deutschmann, Lorenzo Gabrielli), "Roads, rails, and checkpoints: Assessing the permeability of nation-state borders worldwide", World Development, vol. 164, 106175. Available on ScienceDirect in open access
• 2022 (with Alessandro Ferrara, Alejandra Rodriguez Sanchez, Emanuel Deutschmann, Lorenzo Gabrielli, Stefano Iacus, Luca Bastiani, Spyridon Spyratos, Michele Vespe), "The impact of air travel on the precocity and severity of COVID‑19 deaths in sub‑national areas across 45 countries", Scientific Reports, vol. 12, art.16522. Available in open access on nature/Scientific Report 
• 2022 (with Emanuel Deutschmann and Michele Vespe), "Assessing Transnational Human Mobility on a Global Scale", In: Steffen Pötzschke & Sebastian Rinken (eds), Migration Research in a Digitized World: Using Innovative Technology to Tackle Methodological Challenges, Springer, IMISCOE Research Serie, p. 169-192. Open access chapter
• 2022 (with Marta Pasqualini, Olivier Godechot, Marta Dominguez Folgueras, Emanuele Ferragina & Mirna Safi), "Who took care of what? The gender division of unpaid work during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic in France", Demographic Research, vol. 46, art. 34, p. 1007-1036. Open access paper
• 2022 (with Emanuel Deutschmann), "Europeanization via Transnational Mobility and Migration", In: Sebastian M. Büttner, Monika Eigmüller, Susann Worschech (ed.), Sociology of Europeanization, De Gruyter, p. 259-282. Downloadable online (with institutional access)
• 2021 (with Zachary Van Winkle and Emanuele Ferragina), The Unexpected Decline in Feelings of Depression among Adults Ages 50 and Older in 11 European Countries amid the COVID-19 Pandemic, Socius, vol. 7, First Published 10 August. Available in Open Access on Sage Journals
• 2021 (with Emanuele Ferragina), "Leggere la società attraverso il welfare: la lezione di Achille Ardigò", Autonomie locali e servizi sociali, Quadrimestrale di studi e ricerche sul welfare, 1/2021, pp. 79-86. Available on Rivisteweb
• 2021 (avec Aurore Flipo et Emmanuelle Duwez), « "Ce monde que je connais" : les space-sets des Français », In: E. Duwez et P. Mercklé (dir.), Un panel français. L'étude longitudinale par Internet pour les sciences sociales (ELIPSS), INED éditions, col. Grandes Enquêtes.  
• 2021 (with Emanuele Ferragina, Marta Pasqualini, Andrew Zola), "Who cares about health and the economy through the Covid-19 pandemic? Longitudinally tracking changes and heterogeneity in people’s perceptions of risks", SocArXiv Papers, 20th March, doi 10.31235/osf.io/rv7e3.
• 2021 (with Emanuel Deutschmann, Lorenzo Gabrielli, Nodira Kholmatova), The global visa cost divide: How and why the price for travel permits varies worldwide, Political Geography, vol. 86, 102350. Available online on ScienceDirect
• 2020 (e Irina Ciornei), Los effectos de la inmigración en la movilidad social intergeneracional en la Unión Europea: ¿Frena o acelera?, In: Olga Salido y Sandra Fachelli (ed.), Perspectivas y fronteras en el estudio de la desigualdad social: movilidad social y clases sociales en tiempos de cambio, Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas, col. Academia, n° 47, p. 211-232.
• 2020 (with J. Schradie, E. Ferragina, M. Pasqualini, M. Safi, N. Sauger, K. Tittel, A. Zola), "The Covid Year in France: A Tale of Two Lockdowns", Coping with Covid-19. Social distancing, cohesion and inequality in 2020 France, Policy paper n° 5, 21 December. See online the Policy brief
  [Version française] « L'année de la Covid en France ou l'histoire d'un double confinement », Faire face au Covid-19. Distanciation sociale, cohésion et inégalité dans la France de 2020, Policy brief n° 5, 21 décembre. Voir en ligne le Policy brief
• 2020 (avec Mirna Safi, Philippe Coulangeon, Emanuele Ferragina, Olivier Godechot, Emily Helmeid, Stefan Pauly, Nicolas Sauger, Jen Schradie, Katharina Tittel et Andrew Zola), « La France confinée. Anciennes et nouvelles inégalités », In: Marc Lazar, Guillaume Plantin et Xavier Ragot (dir.), Le monde d'aujourd'hui. Les sciences sociales au temps de la Covid-19, Presses de Sciences Po, p. 95-116.
• 2020 (with E. Ferragina, O. Godechot, E. Helmeid, S. Pauly, M. Safi, N. Sauger, J. Schradie, K. Tittel, A. Zola), "Living through Lockdown: Social Inequalities and Transformations during the COVID-19 Crisis in France", OSC Papers, 2020-1, July.
• 2020 (with Emanuele Ferragina, Emily Helmeid, Stefan Pauly, Mirna Safi, Nicolas Sauger & Jen Schradie), "The 'Eye of the Hurricane' Paradox: An Unexpected and Unequal Rise of Well-Being During the Covid-19 Lockdown in France", Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, vol. 68, online 26 May. Science Direct link
• 2020 (with N. Sauger, E. Ferragina, E. Helmeid, S. Pauly, M. Safi, J. Schradie), "Life after lockdown: Getting back on track or charting a new course?", Coping with Covid-19. Social distancing, cohesion and inequality in 2020 France, Policy paper n° 4, 16 June.
  [French version] "La vie après le confinement : retour à la normale ou quête d'un nouveau cap ?", Faire face au Covid-19. Distanciation sociale, cohésion et inégalité dans la France de 2020, Policy brief n° 4, 16 juin.
• 2020 (with M. Safi (coord.), P. Coulangeon, O. Godechot, E. Ferragina, E. Helmeid, S. Pauly, N. Sauger, J. Schradie), "When life revolves around the home: Work and sociability during the lockdown", Coping with Covid-19, Social distancing, cohesion and inequality in 2020 France, Policy brief n° 3, 22 May.
  [French version] « La vie entre quatre murs : travail et sociabilité en temps de confinement », Faire face au Covid-19. Distanciation sociale, cohésion et inégalité dans la France de 2020, Policy brief n° 3, 22 mai.
• 2020 (with E. Ferragina (coord.), C. Barone, E. Helmeid, S. Pauly, M. Safi, N. Sauger, J. Schradie), "In the eye of the hurricane. French society a month into the lockdown", Coping with Covid-19, Social distancing, cohesion and inequality in 2020 France, Policy brief n° 2, 4 May.
  [French version] « Dans l'oeil du cyclone. La société française après un mois de confinement », Faire face au Covid-19. Distanciation sociale, cohésion et inégalité dans la France de 2020, Policy brief n° 2, 4 mai.
• 2020 (coord.) (with E. Ferragina, E. Helmeid, S. Pauly, M. Safi, N. Sauger, J. Schradie), "Lockdown for All, Hardship for Some. Insights from the First Wave of the CoCo Project", Coping with Covid-19, Social distancing, cohesion and inequality in 2020 France, Policy brief n° 1, 20 April.
  [French version] « Confinement pour tous, épreuve pour certains Les résultats de la première vague d'enquête du projet CoCo », Faire face au Covid-19. Distanciation sociale, cohésion et inégalité dans la France de 2020, Policy brief n° 1, 20 avril.

• 2019 (with E. Deutschmann, L.Gabrielli, N. Kholmatova), Assessing visa costs on a global scale, Working Paper, EUI RSCAS, 2020/18, Migration Policy Centre, UEI. [Online]
• 2019 (with Aurore Flipo), "Spatial Mobility in Social Theory", SocietàMutamentoPolitica [Online Open Access], vol. 10, n° 20, p. 125-137.
• 2019 (with Emanuel Deutschmann and Michele Vespe), "The global network of transnational mobility", N-IUSSP, 7 October.
• 2019 (with Lorenzo Gabrielli, Emanuel Deutschmann, Fabrizio Natale and Michele Vespe), "Dissecting global air traffic data to discern different types and trends of transnational human mobility", EPJ Data Science 8, article n° 26, 30 August. [ Best Publication Award by an International Scholar 2020 - ASA Global & Transnational Sociology]
• 2019 (with Emanuel Deutschmann & Federica Bicchi), "Mobility hub or hollow? Cross-border travelling in the Mediterranean", 1995-2016, Global Networks, July [Open Access].
• 2019, "Europäische Gessellschaften: Konvergenzen und Divergenzen",  In: Christian Scholz, Peter Dörrenbächer & Anne Rennig, Europa jenseits des Konvergenzparadigmas: Divergenz - Dynamik - Diskurs, Baden-Baden, Nomos, col. Denkart Europa | Mindset Europa, p. 229-256.  
• 2019 (with Emanuel Deutschmann & Michele Vespe), Estimating Transnational Human Mobility on a Global Scale, EUI Working Papers RSCAS 2019/30, Robert Schuman Centre for Advanced Studies, Migration Policy Centre, 32 p. -  Related resources: MPC Blog, Debate Migration, "Global Human Mobility Rapidly Increasing, New Open-Access Dataset Shows" - Dynamic Data Hub [mapping].
• 2018 (editor, with Adrian Favell), Everyday Europe: Social transnationalism in an unsettled continent, Bristol: Policy Press, 1^st february 2019, 328 p.
• 2018 (with Giulia Assirelli and Carlo Barone), “'You Better Move On'. Determinants and Labor Market Outcomes of Graduate Migration from Italy”, International Migration Review, First Published 5 April. SAGE Journals link
• 2017, "The Engine of 'Europeanness'? Free Movement, Social Transnationalism and European Identification", Ettore Recchi, In: Daniel Thym (ed.), Questioning EU Citizenship. Judges and the Limits of Free Movement and Solidarity in the EU, Hart Publishing, 2017. "
• 2017 (avec Hadrien Dubucs, Thomas Pfirsh et Camille Schmoll), « Les migrations italiennes dans la France contemporaine : les nouveaux visages d'une mobilité européenne historique », Hommes & Migrations, n° 1317-18, avril 2017, p. 59-68.  
• 2017 (with Lorenzo Grifone Baglioni, Justyna Salamonska, Thea Rossi), "Cittadini in movimento. Una tipologia induttiva della mobilità transnazionale in Europa", Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia, 1/2017, p. 63-98. Revisteweb link
• 2017 (with Irina Ciornel), "At the Source of European Solidarity: Assessing the Effects of Cross-border Practices and Political Attitudes", Journal of Common Market Studies, early view, 26 january. Wiley Online library
• 2016 (with Handrien Dubucs, Thomas Pfirsch & Camille Schmoll), "Je suis un Italien de Paris: Italian migrants' incorporation in a European capital city", Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, published online: 10 November. Taylor & Francis Online
• 2016, "The Citizenship Gap in European Societies: Conceptualizing, Measuring and Comparing ‘Migration Neutrality’ across the EU”, International Migration, vol. 54, n° 6, p. 181-200. Doi: 10.1111/imig.12292.  
• 2016 (with Carlo Barone et Giulia Assirelli), "Graduate Migration Out of Italy: Predictors and Pay-Offs", Notes et Documents de l'OSC, n° 2016-03, August 2016.
• 2015, « Les inégalités sociales en Europe », In: Bertrand Badie, Dominique Vidal, Un monde d'inégalités. L'état du monde 2016, Paris, La Découverte, p. 173-179. 
• 2015 (avec Justyna Salamońska), "Bad Times, Good Times to Move? The Changing Landscape of Intra-EU Migration", In: Hans-Jörg Treens, Carlo Ruzza, Virginie Guiraudon, Europe's Prolonged Crisis. The Making or the Unmaking of a Political Union, Palgrave Macmillan, p. 124-147.
  
• 2015, Mobile Europe. The Theory and Practices of Free Movement in the EU, Palgrave Macmillan.
• 2014 (avec Justyna Salamońska), "Keeping the European Faith. Collective Identity before and after the Euro-Crisis", Partecipazione e conflitto, vol.7, n° 3, p. 509-531.
• 2014, "Pathways to European Identity Formation: A Tale of Two Models", Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research, n° 27, 2, p. 119-133. 
• 2013, with Lorenzo G. Baglioni, “La classe media va in Europa? Transnazionalismo e stratificazione sociale nell’Unione Europea”, SocietàMutamentoPolitica, n° 7, p. 47-70.
• 2011, with Adrian Favell, "Social Mobility and Spatial Mobility", In: A. Favell and V. Guiraudon (eds), Sociology of the European Union, Basingstoke, Palgrave.

Academic Presentations (selection)

• 2023, "Coming and not Going Back: Potential Air Overstayers in the Schengen Area (with Luca Bernasconi)", MirreM project workshop, University of Milan, Milan, 6 October.
• 2023 (with Marta Veljkovic and Andrew Zola), "Assessing the Long-Term Effects of COVID-19 on Economic Well-Being in France (2019-2022)" , RC28 Spring Conference, Paris, 25 May.
• 2023, "Per una sociologia della mobilità umana", keynote lecture, 5th Mondi Migranti Conference “La questione sociale delle migrazioni”, Università di Milano, 28 April.
• 2023 (with Luca Bernasconi), "Exploring Flight Passenger Data for Measuring Irregular Migration", MirreM project workshop “Innovative approaches to measuring irregular migration”, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, 25 April.
• 2022, "Assessing the Permeability of Global Land Borders", 19th IMISCOE Conference, Oslo, 1 July.
• 2022, "How Permeable are State Borders Worldwide?Towards a Global Index, paper presentation", MPC Annual Conference “Change and Continuities in a Migration World”, EUI, Florence, 23 May.
• 2022, "States as Gatekeepers: Lessons from Macro-Empirical Research on Visas and Borders Globally", keynote at MAPS (Migration and Asylum Policy Systems) Research Network, final conference, Università Orientale, Naples, 20 May.
• 2022, "How Permeable are State Borders Worldwide?" Global Development Network (GDN), Methodological Deep Dive Lecture online, 18 May.
• 2022, "The Civic Stratification of Status and Class Attainment: Micro- and macro-level effects of immigration on intergenerational social mobility in Europe, paper presentation", ISA-RC28 Conference, LSE, 21 April.
• 2022, "Human Mobility and National Borders in a Post-Covid World", Three Lectures, “Critical Conversations”, American Library in Paris, April and May.
• 2021, "Comparing the social, economic and cultural impact of Covid-19 on Europeans with high-quality survey data", workshop organizer, Sciences Po/OSC, 9 December.
• 2021, "Flows, Borders and Controls: Assessing Transnational Mobility on a Global Scale", Migration & Big Data Workshop, Institut Convergences Migration (Dynamics Department), Paris, 25 November.
• 2021, « Faire face au Covid: les reactions de la population française", Conférence « Les expériences de la vulnérabilité dans l’épidémie de Covid-19 », Université de Lille, 12 November.
• 2021, "COVID-19: Lessons for Sociologists", Webinar Researching and Understanding COVID Societies: Sociology and Beyond, International Science Council and International Sociological Association, 25 October. https://council.science/events/covid-sociology/ (video)
• 2021 (avec H. Rapoport, J-P. Cassarino et E. Galbis), « La libre circulation, centre de gravité de la politique migratoire de l’Union Européenne », Roundtable « Repenser la politique migratoire européenne », Festival des Sciences Sociales, "Tout migre ?”, EHESS, Marseille, 25 Septembre.
• 2021, « Résilience, Continuité, Proximité : Les Français durant l’année Covid », Table ronde de l'Union des Entreprises de Proximité (U2P), Maison de la Mutualité, Paris, 16 Septembre.
• 2021, "Sociology of Europe: What is it about? What have we learnt?" Closing keynote, CIVICA Summer School, EUI, Florence, 9 September.
• 2021 (with M. Pasqualini, E. Ferragina, M. Safi), "Coping with Covid-19: Who suffered the most and why? An exploration of well-being with panel data among the French population", 5th SISEC Conference, Catania, 11 June.
• 2021, "L’emigrazione di ricercatori e ricercatrici: dinamiche e determinanti", Cconference “Restare o partire? Migrazioni e carriere nella ricerca”, Scuola Normale Superiore, Firenze, 9 giugno.
• 2021, "Mobility After Covid-19", expert intervention at the CSS4P Workshop “Mapping the Demand Side for Computational Social Science for Policy”, Joint Research Centre (JRC), European Commission, Ispra, 26 May.
• 2021, "Pensare, misurare e governare le migrazioni", lecture at Accademia La Colombaria, Florence, 11 May.
• 2021, "The Airport Factor: Assessing the Impact of Aviation Mobility on the Spread of Covid-19", MPC/EUI Webinar, “International Mobility Restrictions and the Spread of Pandemics: New Data and Research”,  10 February. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PmhBNNeURus&feature=youtu.be.
• 2020, « Ces citoyens européens qui migrent : quand, où, qui et pourquoi », Collège de France, chaire “Migration et société », 2 Novembre. https://www.college-de-france.fr/site/francois-heran/seminar-2020-11-02-15h00.htm
• 2020 (with L. Gabrielli and L.G. Baglioni), "Italiani da esportazione? Ritratto della diaspora italiana in Europa attraverso i social media", Conference “L’emigrazione degli italiani”, Accademia dei Lincei, Roma, 29 October.
• 2020 (with M. Pasqualini), "L’insegnamento a distanza durante il lockdown in Francia: costi e benefici inattesi per le famiglie", “Disuguaglianze sociali nell’uso delle risorse ICT nel distance learning. Riflessioni a margine dell’emergenza COVID-19”, Università di Milano-Bicocca, 20 October.
• 2020, "An Unexpected and Unequal Rise of Well-Being During the Covid-19 Lockdown in France", ISA-RC28 web conference “Social Stratification under the Corona Pandemic”, Tel Aviv University, 18 August.
• 2020 (with A. Favell), "Mobilities and the Lockdown of Europe", Waseda University-Sciences Po, Webinar, 3 July.
• 2020, "Coping with Covid in France", “European Perspectives on Covid-19”, University College London, Webinar, 22 June.
• 2020, "Estimating Transnational Population Movements: The Global Mobilities Project", 2nd International Forum of Migration Statistics (IFMS), IOM-UNDESA, Cairo, 21 January 2020.
• 2019, "Innovation in Migration Data", Workshop “Understanding yesterday, making sense of today and predicting tomorrow - what can migration data do for policy makers?”, IOM, Geneva, 8 October.
• 2019, "Estimating Transnational Human Mobility on a Global Scale", American Sociological Association conference, New York, 13 August 2019.
• 2019, "Unequal Europe by Jason Beckfield", Book discussion session, Council of European Studies, Annual Conference, Madrid, 20 June 2019.
• 2019, "Everyday Europe by E. Recchi et alii", Book discussion session, Council of European Studies, Annual Conference, Madrid, 22 June 2019.
• 2019 (with I. Ciornei & A. Varela), "Being a migrant makes you (downwardly) mobile? Assessing the effects of immigration on intergenerational social mobility in the EU with two different stratification measurements", ECSR thematic workshop “‘Migration, Social Stratification and Inequality’, Università di Milano, 14-15 March.

Research Projects - Projets de recherche

"Social Change in Global Perspective: A Formal Analysis", Direction Scientifique de Sciences Po (Competitive grant). 2024-2026.

"Winners and Losers of the Covid-19 Pandemic in France and Israel: Evaluating the Long-Term Effects on Well-Being", Maimonide Funds, French-Israeli Research Cooperation Council, in partnership with the Samuel Neaman Institute for Policy Research, Technion (Israel Institute of Technology), Haifa. 2022-2023.

Coping with Covid-19. Social distancing, cohesion and inequality in 2020 France (CoCo) - 2020-2021 (with Sciences Po - CDSP - ANR Flash Call).

The Space-Set Project: The Power of Personal Geographies. Fine-tuning 'Space-Sets' and Testing their Measurement (2014-2016, funded by Sciences Po Research).

Direction de thèses - PhD Students

Maxime Christophe, Bartholomew Konechni, Tania Moutai (co-dir.),  Katharina Tittel  (co-dir.)

Teaching - Enseignements

- Sociology of migration (master, 2022-)
- Sociology of inequalities (master, 2019-)
- Social inequalities in Europe (undergraduate, 2014-2018, Reims)
- Introduction to EU studies (undergraduate, 2016-2018, Reims)
- Sociology of contemporary Europe (master, 2014-2017)
- Comparing European Societies (2018-2019, Reims)
- Sociology of free movement (master, 2014-)
- Social research methods II (master, 2016-2017)
- Questions of sociological research (master, 2017-2021)
- Comparative sociology of inequalities (master, 2017-2019)
- Sociology of international mobility (undergraduate, 2018-2022, Poitiers)
- Introduction to sociology (undergraduate, 2019-2022, Poitiers)