-
Chapter Six: Migration-Trust Networks: Expanding Current Theory
- Texas A&M University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
l 133 Thus far, I have shared ethnographic evidence of how social networks of migration can develop from rural and urban places of origin and how they function. Such networks are Migration-Trust Networks, and they are the focus of this study. I theorize on how such networks function when a large number of the network participants lack legal documentation . The MTNs expand and/or are transplanted to other networks, not only at the place of origin, but also at the places of destination. So far, this research has provided grounds to the claim that the creation, expansion, and perpetuation of social networks of international migration depend on numerous factors. Social networks do not function magically, as has been suggested in the literature. One reason it has been difficult for scholars to understand how social networks of migration (in this case, MTNs) function, is the difficulty of dissecting and identifying the multiple factors and social processes that appear to be driving these networks. A further challenge is that these different factors and social processes appear to be functioning simultaneously. In addition, many of the social factors that seem to be driving these networks are not necessarily observable or easy to measure. For this reason, my empirical findings and theoretical propositions are a starting point in the area of international migration for understanding how to think about the functionality of the proposed MTNs. I have suggested that international migrants exchange social capital using preexisting social relationships of trust and social solidarity from their place of origin. They may also form new ties resulting from their international migration experience and/or from the transnational social process in which they have participated. Such new or preexisting ties can then be transformed and adapted within the transnational context. Relations of social trust and social cohesiveness among network participants become the main driving force behind migrant networks, especially if most of the migrants lack legal status to enter, reside, and work at the place of destination. Migration-Trust Networks: Expanding Current Theory chapter six 134 m Chapter Six Through relationships of trust within clique-like social networks at the place of origin, which are transformed and transnationally connected to MTNs for the first time, returning international migrants exchange the necessary social capital in order to depart for, arrive, and settle in the country of destination. The social surveillance and expectations that govern the exchange of social capital help to expand, maintain, and perpetuate the social network. Figure 6.1 exemplifies a Migration-Trust Network and how collective efficacy is created within an MTN in the transnational context between the places of origin and destination. First, preexisting relationships of trust, the common migration experience, and the commonalities of struggle back home may lead to a paisanaje sentiment. Together with religious faith, bounded solidarity is also created. As a result, social cohesion, collective behavior, social bonding, and solidarity behavior are expected from the members of the MTN. Social monitoring then takes place to ensure that the values, norms, and social expectations are being followed. This leads to enforceable trust in which, through social surveillance and a sanctioning capacity among the members of the MTN, the behavioral expectations, values , and norms are enforced. This leads to extremely high levels of trust that are shared by the members of an MTN. The sentiment of social collectiveness is therefore enforced by the sanctioning capacity of the members of the network. This sentiment of social collectiveness (or collective conscience in Durkehim’s terms) together with the high labels of social trust result in a form of collective efficacy, which acts as a safe haven for the members of the MTN. These social dynamics within MTNs allow social capital to become accessible to new and returning migrants who provide help and share the benefits of membership in the network to others in the future. The peculiarities regarding the Mexico-US bound international migration flow allow for conditions in which one can observe the mechanisms of well-functioning social networks over time. Such collective efficacy and the monitoring capacity of the members of the MTN take place in the transnational context between the place of origin and destination when migrants travel back and forth, and via regular mail, media communications such as the telephone communications, and the use of the Internet. Figure 6.1 portrays the complexity of this unobserved social system that constitutes an MTN. Social networks of migration from Mexico to the United States...