Migration Trust Networks

In an important new application of sociological theories, Nadia Y. Flores-Yeffal offers fresh insights into the ways in which social networks function among immigrants who arrive in the United States from Mexico without legal documentation. She asks and examines important questions about the commonalities and differences in networks for this group compared with other immigrants, and she identifies “trust” as a major component of networking among those who have little if any legal protection. Revealing the complexities behind social networks of international migration, Migration-Trust Networks: Social Cohesion in Mexican US-Bound Emigration provides an empirical and theoretical analysis of how social networks of international migration operate in the transnational context. Further, the book clarifies how networking creates chain migration effects observable throughout history. Flores-Yeffal’s study extends existing social network theories, providing a more detailed description of the social micro- and macrodynamics underlying the development and expansion of social networks used by undocumented Mexicans to migrate and integrate within the United States, with trust relationships as the basis of those networks. In addition, it incorporates a transnational approach in which the migrant’s place of origin, whether rural or urban, becomes an important variable. Migration-Trust Networks encapsulates the new realities of undocumented migration from Latin America and contributes to the academic discourse on international migration, advancing the study of social networks of migration and of social networks in general.

Immigration and Categorical Inequality explains the general processes of migration, the categorization of newcomers in urban areas as racial or ethnic others, and the mechanisms that perpetuate inequality among groups. Inspired by the pioneering work of Charles Tilly on chain migration, transnational communities, trust networks, and categorical inequality, renowned migration scholars apply Tilly’s theoretical concepts using empirical data gathered in different historical periods and geographical areas ranging from New York to Tokyo and from Barcelona to Nepal. The contributors of this volume demonstrate the ways in which social boundary mechanisms produce relational processes of durable categorical inequality. This understanding is an important step to stop treating differences between certain groups as natural and unchangeable. This volume will be valuable for scholars, students, and the public in general interested in understanding the periodic rise of nativism in the United States and elsewhere.

This book presents a cross-cultural investigation into the interplay between social capital and subjective well-being. Based on a quantitative analysis of the latest large-N cross-cultural data sets, including the World Value Survey and the European Social Survey, and covering various countries, it offers a comparative perspective on and new insights into the determinants of social capital and well-being. By identifying both universal and culture-specific patterns, the authors shed new light on the spatial and temporal differentiation of social capital and subjective well-being. The book is divided into two main parts: The first discusses mutual trust, religious and cultural tolerance, and pro-social and human values as essential dimensions of social capital. In turn, the second part studies social capital as a source of subjective well-being and life satisfaction. Given its scope, the book will appeal to scholars of sociology, social psychology, political science and economics seeking a deeper understanding of the multi-faceted nature of social capital and well-being.

Migration and especially irregular migration are politically sensitive and highly debated issues in the developed world, particularly in Europe. This book analyses irregular protection-seeking migration in Europe, with close attention to sub-Saharan migration into the EU, from the perspective of emancipatory security theory. Some individuals leave their countries because political, social, and economic structures largely fail to provide protection. This book examines how communities respond to migrants who seek protection and security, where migration is perceived as a source of insecurity by many in that community. The central aim of this critical analysis is to explore ideas and practices which can contribute to replacing the political structures of insecurity with emancipatory structures, where individuals (both irregular migrants and members of the receiving communities) enjoy security together, not opposed to each other. Drawing on the security dilemma, critical approaches to security, forced migration and trust, the book demonstrates how common life between two groups of individuals can be politically constructed, in tandem with limitations, risks, and possible handicaps of initiating such a construction in world politics. Rethinking Security in the Age of Migration will be of interest to students and scholars of migration studies, security studies, international relations, European politics and sociology.

Focusing on the case of the Hazaras, a population from central Afghanistan, this book shows how migration studies and transnationalism are at the heart of theoretical and methodological debates which animate anthropology.

Migrant Capital covers a broad range of case studies and, by bringing together leading and emerging researchers, presents state-of-the-art empirical, theoretical and methodological perspectives on migration, networks, social and cultural capital, exploring the ways in which these bodies of literature can inform and strengthen each other.

Leading migration researcher Louise Ryan’s topical and intersectional book provides rich insights into migrants’ social networks. It draws on more than 200 interviews with migrants who followed various transnational routes in every decade since the 1940s, in order to build valuable longitudinal perspectives and comparisons. With a particular focus on London, it charts how social networks are formed and sustained, how trust is developed and how social support is accessed, and explores the key opportunities and obstacles that migrants encounter. This is a seminal fusion of migration studies and social network analysis that casts new light on both subjects, essential for those interested in immigration, ethnicity, diversity and inequalities.

Rightly fearing that unscrupulous rulers would break them up, seize their resources, or submit them to damaging forms of intervention, strong networks of trust such as kinship groups, clandestine religious sects, and trade diasporas have historically insulated themselves from political control by a variety of strategies. Drawing on a vast range of comparisons over time and space, Trust and Rule, first published in 2005, asks and answers how and with what consequences members of trust networks have evaded, compromised with, or even sought connections with political regimes. Since different forms of integration between trust networks produce authoritarian, theocratic, and democratic regimes, the book provides an essential background to the explanation of democratization and de-democratization.