Bi-national Social Networks and Assimilation: A Test of the Importance of Transnationalism

Social Problems
Ted MouwAshton Verdery

Abstract

While the concept of transnationalism has gained widespread popularity among scholars as a way to describe immigrants' long-term maintenance of cross-border ties to their origin communities, critics have argued that the overall proportion of immigrants who engage in transnational behavior is low and that, as a result, transnationalism has little sustained effect on the process of immigrant adaptation and assimilation. In this paper, we argue that a key shortcoming in the current empirical debate on transnationalism is the lack of data on the social networks that connect migrants to each other and to non-migrants in communities of origin. To address this shortcoming, our analysis uses unique bi-national data on the social network connecting an immigrant sending community in Guanajuato, Mexico, to two destination areas in the United States. We test for the effect of respondents' positions in cross-border networks on their migration intentions and attitudes towards the United States using data on the opinions of their peers, their participation in cross border and local communication networks, and their structural position in the network. The results indicate qualified empirical support for a network-based model of transnationalis...Continue Reading

References

Mar 12, 2005·Annual Review of Public Health·Marielena LaraDavid E Hayes Bautista
Nov 12, 2005·The Journal of Primary Prevention·Martica L Bacallao, Paul R Smokowski
Mar 4, 2008·Social Networks·David R Hunter
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Apr 24, 2012·Sociological Methods & Research·Cosma Rohilla Shalizi, Andrew C Thomas
Aug 1, 2012·Sociological Methodology·Ted Mouw, Ashton M Verdery

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Citations

Jun 13, 2017·American Journal of Epidemiology·Forrest W CrawfordJianghong Li
Dec 19, 2015·PloS One·Ashton M VerderyPeter J Mucha
Apr 25, 2020·Archives of Sexual Behavior·Crista E Johnson-Agbakwu, Emily Manin
Jun 6, 2018·Social Networks·Ashton M VerderySergio Chavez
Jun 15, 2021·PloS One·Marian-Gabriel HânceanJosé Luis Molina

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