Social Life (original) (raw)

2020, Marriage Migration and Integration

In this chapter, we explore the social domain of integration, situating migrant spouses' patterns of social contacts and networks within societal and temporal contexts, and drawing out their implications for integration in other domains. As the Labour Force Survey does not contain data on social networks, the discussion is based on the rich qualitative research material from the Marriage Migration and Integration project. The inclusion in the sample not just of migrant spouses and their partners, but also intranational couples, helps us to tease apart the social implications of marriage migration from issues which are often shared across couple types, such as the social implications of life stage and the opportunities and barriers of different social contexts. We start with a sibling pair case study which introduces several of the themes of the chapter. Amir (40s) and Eshan (30s) grew up in a tight-knit family in Bradford. The area was ethnically mixed, with kids in and out of each other's houses and attending activities at the local youth club. Both did well at school but, as the older brother, Amir took on the responsibility of going into the family business, whilst Eshan went on to University. Amir married Ghazala, a cousin from Pakistan, who joined the family in Bradford. As the youngest son, Eshan was expected to marry someone who would stay