Abstract
This chapter considers the implications of the increase in economic, social and symbolic capital following migration between Ethiopian urban centres and higher education in these new places. People’s access to stable incomes enabled them to share economic capital with family, relatives and friends, which changed the power relations between them. While many aspired to enhance their economic capital through private-sector employment and establishing their own businesses, they also needed to supplement the sharing of economic capital with broader social commitments through participation in weddings, funerals and other community events. In Addis Ababa, the high cost of living and long commutes to work made it challenging to live up to social expectations in the same ways as in Adigrat. Moreover, the values of cultural capital differed between places, which meant that increase in other forms of capital did not necessarily translate into upward social mobility.
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Breines, M.R. (2021). Managing Enhanced Capital. In: Becoming Middle Class. Globalization, Urbanization and Development in Africa . Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-16-3537-3_5
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