Skip to main content

Structuring Social Remittances: Transnational Networks of Polish Migrants

  • Chapter
  • First Online:
Migration and Social Remittances in a Global Europe

Part of the book series: Europe in a Global Context ((EGC))

Abstract

This chapter considers the contents, structures, and meanings of communication as key elements enabling or hindering transfer of social remittances in the transnational social networks of Polish migrants. It departs from the assumption that migrants are confronted with new patterns of behaviours and with unfamiliar social norms and uses both quantitative and the qualitative approaches to social networks to investigate the contents, structures, and meanings of migrants’ communication with members of their transnational network. It is argued that when we consider why, when, and how migrants ‘report home’ about their experiences abroad, we can better understand the mechanisms beyond social remittances. The chapter draws on the data from in-depth interviews and questionnaires with 134 migrants from Poland in Germany (Berlin and Munich) and England (London and Birmingham).

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

eBook
USD 16.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD 119.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Notes

  1. 1.

    A precise description of the sample was presented in TRANSFORmIG Methodological Note 2 (July 2015). The quantitative analysis contains more cases than the qualitative analysis.

References

  • Angermann, A., & Sittermann, B. (2010). Volunteering in the European Union—An overview. Frankfurt a. M.: Institute for Social Work and Social Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bailey, T., & Waldinger, R. (1991). Primary, secondary, and enclave labor markets: A training system approach. American Sociological Review, 56(4), 432–445.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bilecen, B., & Sienkiewicz, J. J. (2015). Informal social protection networks of migrants: Typical patterns in different transnational social spaces. Population Space and Place, 21(3), 227–243.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boyd, M. (1989). Family and personal networks in international migration: Recent developments and new agendas. International Migration Review, 23(3), 638–670.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Burt, R. (2001). Bandwidth and echo: Trust, information, and gossip in social networks. In J. E. Rauch & A. Casella (Eds.), Networks and markets (pp. 30–74). New York: Sage.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carling, J. (2014). Scripting remittances: Making sense of money transfers in transnational relationships. International Migration Review, 48(s1), S218–SS62.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Haas, H. (2007). Remittances, migration and social development: A conceptual review of the literature, social policy and development programme paper number 34. Geneva: United Nations Research Institute for Social Development.

    Google Scholar 

  • de Haas, H. (2010). Migration and development: A theoretical perspective. International Migration Review, 44(1), 227–264.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Emirbayer, M., & Goodwin, J. (1994). Network analysis, culture, and the problem of agency. American Journal of Sociology, 99(6), 1411–1454.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Glick Schiller, N., & Fouron, G. E. (1999). Terrains of blood and nation: Haitian transnational social fields. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 22(2), 340–366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. (1983). The strength of weak ties: A network theory revisited. Sociological Theory, 1, 201–233.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter, M. (2002). The strength of weak ties. In J. Scott (Ed.), Social networks: Critical concepts in sociology (pp. 60–80). London: Routledge.

    Google Scholar 

  • Herz, A. (2015). Relational constitution of social support in migrants’ transnational personal communities. Social Networks, 40, 64–74.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Herz, A., & Olivier, C. (2014). Transnational social network analysis. Transnational Social Review: A Social Work Journal, 2(1), 11–29.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jarvinen-Alenius, P., Pitkanen, P., & Virkama, A. (2010). Transformative impact of social remittances in transnational settings. In T. Faist, P. Pitkanen, J. Gerdes, & E. Reisenauer (Eds.), Transnationalisation and institutional transformations (pp. 194–212). Bielefeld: University of Bielefeld.

    Google Scholar 

  • Khan, S., & VanWynsberghe, R. (2008). Cultivating the under-minded: Cross-case analysis as knowledge mobilization [54 paragraphs]. Forum: Qualitative Social Research 9(1): Art. 34. http://nbn-resolving.de/urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0801348

  • Levitt, P. (1998). Social remittances: Migration driven local-level forms of cultural diffusion. International Migration Review, 32(4), 926–948.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mazzucato, V. (2006). Migrant transnationalism: Two-way flows, changing institutions and community development between Ghana and the Netherlands. Economic Sociology: The European Electronic Newsletter, 7(3), 8–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • McPherson, M., Smith-Lovin, L., & Cook, J. M. (2001). Birds of a feather: Homophily in social networks. Annual Review of Sociology, 27, 415–444.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Messent, P., Saleh, H., & Solomon, X. (2005). Asian families “Back Home”: An unexplored resource. Contemporary Family Therapy, 27(3), 329–344.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mitchell, J. C. (1969). The concept and use of social networks. In J. C. Mitchell (Ed.), Social networks in urban situations: Analyses of personal relationships in central African towns (pp. 1–50). Manchester: The University of Manchester at The University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Census of Population and Housing. (2011). Wybrane tablice dotyczące emigracji na pobyt czasowy powyżej trzech miesięcy—wyniki Narodowego Spisu Powszechnego Ludności i Mieszkań 2011, Część I, II, III, Warsaw: Główny Urząd Statystyczny. http://www.stat.gov.pl/cps/rde/xbcr/gus/LU_infor_o_rozm_i_kierunk_emigra _z_polski_w_latach_2004_2011.pdf. Accessed 28 Dec 2015.

  • Nowicka, M. (2015). Bourdieu’s theory of practice in the study of cultural encounters and transnational transfers in migration. MMG Working Paper 15-01, Göttingen: Max-Planck-Institut zur Erforschung multireligiöser und multiethnischer Gesellschaften. http://www.mmg.mpg.de/fileadmin/user_upload/documents/wp/WP_15-01_Nowicka_Bourdieus-theory.pdf. Accessed 30 Dec 2015.

  • Nowicka, M., Krzyżowski, Ł., & Šerbedžija, V. (2015). TRANSFORmIG’ sampling design: Strategies and challenges. Methodological Note 1. https://www.projekte.hu-berlin.de/de/transformig/online-resources/methodological-notes/transformig-methodological-note-1.pdf. Accessed 29 Oct 2015.

  • Pérez-Armendáriz, C., & Crow, D. (2010). Do migrants remit democracy? International migration, political beliefs, and behavior in Mexico. Comparative Political Studies, 43(1), 119–148.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ryan, L. (2008). “I had a sister in England”: Family-led migration, social networks and Irish nurses. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 34(3), 453–470.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slany, K., Ślusarczyk, M., & Krzyżowski, Ł. (2014). Wpływ współczesnych migracji Polaków na przemiany więzi społecznych, relacje w rodzinie i relacje międzygeneracyjne. Warsaw: Komitet Badań nad Migracjami PAN. http://www.kbnm.pan.pl/images/pdf/Krystyna_Slany_ekspertyza.pdf. Accessed 12 Jan 2016.

  • Thieme, S. (2006). Social networks and migration: Far West Nepalese labour migrants in Delhi. Munster: LIT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(6), 1024–1054.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wellman, B., & Frank, K. (2001). Network capital in a multi-level world: Getting support from personal communities. In N. Lin, K. Cook, & R. S. Burt (Eds.), Social capital: Theory and research (pp. 223–273). New Brunswick: Transaction Publishers.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Copyright information

© 2016 The Author(s)

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Krzyżowski, Ł. (2016). Structuring Social Remittances: Transnational Networks of Polish Migrants. In: Nowicka, M., Šerbedžija, V. (eds) Migration and Social Remittances in a Global Europe. Europe in a Global Context. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60126-1_4

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-60126-1_4

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-137-60125-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-60126-1

  • eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics