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The Elderly in Transnational Family Configurations: Migration, Inter-Generational Relations and Care Support in Switzerland

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Handbook of Transnational Families Around the World

Part of the book series: Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research ((HSSR))

Abstract

This chapter examines the following question: How does the old age of individuals within transnational families impact on migration patterns of transnational family members, particularly in relation to care patterns? By exploring the care relationships that develop between older people and their progeny, whether at a distance or through face-to-face contact, the nature of inter-generational forms of economic and emotional support and tensions between family members become salient. This chapter centers on the changing locational family configurations linked to progression of the transnational family life cycle. Combining a transnational perspective with focus on inter-generational relationships linked to an individual life course approach, the empirical findings and theoretical insights of the author’s research on older people are center-staged in the formulation of a typology of family configurations.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    People who chose this option would be dispersed in locations around the destination country and would be unlikely to appear in our Swiss interviewee sample.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Social Work and NCCR LIVES, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland HES-SO, Geneva, Switzerland

    Claudio Bolzman

Authors
  1. Claudio Bolzman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Claudio Bolzman .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology and Social work, Universidad Academia de Humanismo Cristiano, Santiago, Chile

    Javiera Cienfuegos

  2. Centre on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD), Faculty of Sociology, University of Bielefeld, Bielefeld, Germany

    Rosa Brandhorst

  3. Centre of African Studies, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

    Deborah Fahy Bryceson

Appendix

Appendix

Methodology of research studies and main characteristics of the interviews

Main issues and places of studies

Number of interviewees

Sampling

Interview languages

Age of interviewees

Gender of interviewees

Geographical origins

1. Family reunification with an elder in French- speaking Switzerland, 2006–2008

24 interviews

Qualitative sampling

Contacted through social work organizations, researchers’ personal network, and snowballing

French, English, Spanish

40–65

Mostly women

European Union (Southern and Eastern Europe), North Africa, Latin America

2. Quality of life of of non-European elderly in French- speaking Switzerland

2013–2014

38 interviews

Qualitative sampling

Contacted through immigrant associations, researchers’ personal network, and snowballing

French, Spanish

55–82

14 women

24 men

14 Africans

24 Latin Americans

3. Migrations, elders, and welfare states in Romania and Switzerland 2013–2015

80

Interviews

Qualitative multi-sited sampling

Contacted in Switzerland through Romanian churches, associations, social services, researcher’s personal network, and snowballing

Romanian, French

50–88

40 women

26 men

14 couples (women and men together)

38 Romanians in Switzerland (including 11 Romans)

42 Romanians in Romania

4. Life course, living conditions, and mobility of elderly immigrants in Switzerland 2012–2014

16 interviews

Qualitative sampling complementary to the quantitative survey

Contacted through addresses from quantitative survey and researcher’s personal network

Spanish, Portuguese, French

65–79

8 women

8 men

8 Spanish

8 Portuguese

5. Transitions to adult life of second-generation young people in French-speaking Switzerland)

2010–2018

40 interviews

Student interviews in the framework of a master research seminar on migration, citizenship, and social work

French

18–35

22 women

18 men

Majority of Southern and Eastern Europeans. Also Latin Americans and Africans

  1. Sources
  2. 1. Family Reunification of Elders and Social Work, Swiss National Science Foundation (SNF), Grant 13DTD3-122658. Main Applicant: C. Bolzman (Bolzman et al., 2008).
  3. 2. Quality of Life of African and Latin American Elderly Migrants in Switzerland, Grant from the 2. Leenaards Foundation. Main Applicant: C. Bolzman (Bolzman et al., 2016).
  4. 3. Romanian Ageing Migrants and the Welfare State, SNF, Grant IZERZO_142219. Main Applicant: C. Bolzman (Ionescu & Bolzman, 2022).
  5. 4. Vivre/Leben/Vivere—Democratization of Ageing? Progress and Inequalities in Switzerland, SNF, Grants Sinergia and NCCR LIVES. Main Applicant: M. Oris (C.Bolzman responsible for the sub project “Older Migrants”) (Bolzman et al., 2017).
  6. 5. ‘Social Work, Cultural Diversity and Citizenship’, Master Research Seminar in Social Work, Geneva, HES-SO. Responsible for the Seminar: C. Bolzman (Bolzman et al., 2021a, b).

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Bolzman, C. (2023). The Elderly in Transnational Family Configurations: Migration, Inter-Generational Relations and Care Support in Switzerland. In: Cienfuegos, J., Brandhorst, R., Fahy Bryceson, D. (eds) Handbook of Transnational Families Around the World . Handbooks of Sociology and Social Research. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-15278-8_11

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