Mobility is an indisputable part of the modern world. The organization of the labor market entails
high demands and expectations to be resilient, flexible and mobile which challenges both family and
working life. This master’s thesis is a sociological study in how families with a higher educational
background experiences a move from bigger university cities in Denmark to smaller cities in the
Southern part of Jutland. The thesis also seeks to uncover what strengthens their establishment and
place attachment.
According to a report from SFI (2014) it is particularly challenging to attract and retain highly
educated residents from urban municipalities to rural and peripheral municipalities in Denmark
which has been one of the motivations for examining this field. To understand the challenges I
initiated the thesis by interviewing three experts that works with attracting and retaining newcomers
in the three southern Jutland municipalities Sønderborg, Aabenraa og Tønder. The experts confirmed
the challenges and added the importance of helping the newcomers establishing a social network.
The thesis is primarily based on narrative interviews with six highly educated families based in the
three southern Jutland municipalities. I have interviewed five couples and the wife in the sixth family.
A total of 11 informants. I seek to uncover the informants’ lifeworld and interpret their narratives,
reflections, thoughts and experiences through a phenomenological and hermeneutic approach. The
analysis of these interviews is based on the narrative analytical method where plot, life plans, life
chances and turning points are the key analytical concepts that illuminate the narrator’s value
orientation and meaning and identity formation according to moving motive and experience. The
second analysis part is based on three thematical findings from the narrative analysis which are
temporality, identification and social communities. The theoretical framework is built upon Zygmunt
Bauman’s thoughts about liquid modernity including temporality and communities, and Timothy
Beatleys concepts ‘place attachment’ and ‘place rootedness’.
The study finds that the informants experience that Sønderjylland is a good place for combining a
stable and safe family life with a self-developing career life. Every informant moved from an
individualized, flexible and free youth and study life in a bigger university city influenced by
temporary and weak social relations to a more community-oriented adult and family life with a focus
on security and stability. Generally their narratives’ plot are based on moving motifs such as cheaper
housing prices, career kickstarting, stable job opportunities, nearby-living family members, stability
and security in relation to the children’s upbringing, a quieter family life and rich nature. Identification
with the local surroundings and communities is a key element for establishment and a feeling of place
attachment.
Based on the analysis's tendencies, I have developed a series of typologies of highly educated families
with children as newcomer types. The typologies cover: 1) The Sentimental Returned, 2) The
Established and Dreamy Newcomer, 3) The Stability and Career-seeking Newcomer, and 4) The
Career and Self-developing Transient.