Social Capital and International Migration from Latin America (original) (raw)
Related papers
Social Capital and International Migration from
2011
We combine data from the Latin American Migration Project and the Mexican Migration Project to estimate models predicting the likelihood of taking of first and later trips to the United States from five nations: Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Peru. The models test specific hypotheses about the effects of social capital on international migration and how these effects vary with respect to contextual factors. Our findings confirm the ubiquity of migrant networks and the universality of social capital effects throughout Latin America. They also reveal how the sizes of these effects are not uniform across settings. Social capital operates more powerfully on first as opposed to later trips and interacts with the cost of migration. In addition, effects are somewhat different when considering individual social capital (measuring strong ties) and community social capital (measuring weak ties). On first trips, the effect of strong ties in promoting migration increases with distance whereas the effect of weak ties decreases with distance. On later trips, the direction of effects for both individual and community social capital is negative for long distances but positive for short distances.
Demography, 2015
This article contributes to understandings of gendered social capital by analyzing the effects of gendered ties on the migration of men and women from four Latin American countries (Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and the Dominican Republic) to the United States. The research theorizes the importance of strong and weak ties to men and women in each sending country as a product of the gender equity gap in economic participation (low/high) and incidence of female-led families (low/high). The findings reveal that ties to men increase the odds of migration from countries where gender equity and incidence of female-led families are low, while ties to women are more important for migration from countries where gender equity and female-led families are high. Previous research on migration and social capital details the importance of network ties for providing resources and the role of gender in mediating social capital quality and access to network support. Results reveal that not only are ...
Social Capital and International Migration: A Test Using Information on Family Networks
American Journal of Sociology, 2001
This article uses a multistate hazard model to test the network hypothesis of social capital theory. The effects of family network ties on individual migration are estimated while controlling for measured and unmeasured conditions that influence migration risks for all family members. Results suggest that social network effects are robust to the introduction of controls for human capital, common household characteristics, and unobserved conditions. Estimates also confirm the ancillary hypothesis, which states that diffuse social capital distributed among community and household members strongly influences the likelihood of out-migration, thus validating social capital theory in general and the network hypothesis in particular.
Social Capital and the Wages of Mexican Migrants: New Hypotheses and Tests
Social Forces, 2003
In this article, we develop hypotheses about the ways in which network ties influence wages and the circumstances under which social capital assumes greater or lesser importance in the determination of migrant earnings. We then test these hypotheses using data on male Mexican migrants gathered by the Mexican Migration Project. We find that social capital has both direct and indirect effects on migrant wages. Indirectly, social capital influences how a job is obtained and whether it is in the formal sector. Directly, having friends and relatives with migratory experience improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the job search to yield higher wages. Moreover, the effects of social capital on wages are greater for undocumented than documented migrants, reflecting the more tenuous labor market position of the former. These results confirm and extend social capital theory and underscore the importance of social networks in understanding the determination of migrant earnings. The concept of social capital was introduced into social science by the economist Glenn Loury (1977) but was elaborated theoretically by the sociologists Pierre Bourdieu (1986) and James Coleman (1988). Since its incorporation into the field in the 1980s, it has been applied to a variety of social settings, from neighborhoods (Sampson and Morenoff 1997) to nations (Putnam 2000). Massey and colleagues (1987:170-71) were the first to apply the concept to migration, noting that poor Mexican peasants "may be poor in financial resources, but they are wealthy in social capital, which they can readily convert into jobs and earnings in the United States.
The Effects of Gendered Networks on U.S. Migration: A Comparison of 4 Latin American Countries
This article contributes to understandings of gendered social capital by analyzing the effects of gendered ties on the migration of men and women from four Latin American countries (Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic) to the United States. The research theorizes the importance of strong and weak ties to men and women in each sending country as a product of the gender equity gap in economic participation (low/high) and incidence of female-led families (low/high). The findings reveal that ties to men increase the odds of migration from countries where gender equity and incidence of female-led families are low, while ties to women are more important for migration from countries where gender equity and female-led families are high. Previous research on migration and social capital details the importance of network ties for providing resources and the role of gender in mediating social capital quality and access to network support. Results reveal that not only are different kinds of ties important to female and male migration, but migrants from different countries look to different sources of social capital for assistance.
Social capital and migration: How do similar resources lead to divergent outcomes?
Demography, 2008
This article investigates how migrant social capital differentially influences individuals’ migration and cumulatively generates divergent outcomes for communities. To combine the fragmented findings in the literature, the article proposes a framework that decomposes migrant social capital into resources (information about or assistance with migration), sources (prior migrants), and recipients (potential migrants). Analysis of multilevel and longitudinal data from 22 rural villages in Thailand shows that the probability of internal migration increases with the available resources, yet the magnitude of increase depends on recipients’ characteristics and the strength of their ties to sources. Specifically, individuals become more likely to migrate if migrant social capital resources are greater and more accessible. The diversity of resources by occupation increases the likelihood of migration, while diversity by destination inhibits it. Resources from weakly tied sources, such as vill...
Network Effects in Mexico–U.S. Migration
American Behavioral Scientist, 2016
Scholars have long noted how migration streams, once initiated, obtain a self-feeding character. Studies have connected this phenomenon, called the cumulative causation of migration, to expanding social networks that link migrants in destination to individuals in origin. While extant research has established a positive association between individuals’ ties to prior migrants and their migration propensities, seldom have researchers interrogated how multiple social mechanisms—as well as exposure to common environmental factors—might account for these interdependencies. This article uses a mixed-methods strategy to identify the social mechanisms underlying the network effects in Mexico–U.S. migration. Three types of social mechanisms are identified, which all lead to network effects: (a) social facilitation, which is at work when network peers such as family or community members provide useful information or help that reduces the costs or increases the benefits of migration; (b) normat...
How Social Capital is Related to Migration Between Communities?
European Journal of Population
In addition to economic and infrastructural factors, social connections of people also influence migration patterns. This influence can be attributed to the resources that are made available by social contacts: social capital, which can also be utilized in the process of migration. Based on previous literature, we identify three different aspects of social capital and test their relationship with domestic migration simultaneously. First, we analyse if the intensity of connections within communities (local social capital) restrains from migration. Second, if the intensity of connections between two communities (bridging social capital) is associated with increased migration between them. Finally, we consider, if the extent to which local community networks exhibit open or closed structures (bonding social capital) contributes to higher or lower migration rates. We create indicators for these measures using archived online social network data, covering 40% of the adult population of H...
Migrants' Networks and Social Capital
Existing research on international migration has focused on the importance of social networks and social capital in the countries of origin and destination. However, much less is known about the importance of social networks and associated social capital in transit countries. Drawing on ethnographic research on Iranian transit migrants in Turkey, this paper argues that migrant networks and social capital are equally important in transit countries. These networks, however, do not always generate positive social capital for Iranian migrants as there are scarce resources and there is no ‘‘enforceable trust’’. Iranian migrant networks reorganized in a transit country like Turkey are not static structures and they are largely affected by macro-variables such as current immigration and asylum policies of Turkey and Europe, transnationalism and globalization, and other place-specific features like Turkey’s location bridging East and West, the existence of human smuggling networks, and its proximity to Iran. But Iranian migrant networks in Turkey are also affected by micro-variables, such as gender, religion, and ethnicity of individual migrants.
A MIGRATION SYSTEMS APPROACH TO UNDERSTANDING MIGRANT SOCIAL CAPITAL September 2015
2015
This paper addresses the role of social networks on migration. While this topic has already been addressed by a substantial empirical and theoretical body of literature, we add new perspectives that reframe the conversation and broaden the geographic scope of the existing theory. We use a migration systems approach, acknowledging that there are multiple different migration systems emanating from any one origin area. We also argue that how each system is organized, informally or through formal migrant employment organizations, affects the way in which social networks influence migration. Test of these propositions using exceptionally detailed data from rural Nepal show that for systems that are informally organized, migrant capital at the community level has a positive effect on migration. Alternately, for systems that are formally organized, community level migration capital has a negative effect. These results, which are partially contrary to the strong existing theory, force us to...