Stagnant immigrant social networks and cycles of exploitation

Bibliographic Data

ID2146606
AuthorsRocío Rosales (0000-0002-9699-7313)
Year2014
Volume37
Issue14
Pages2564-2579
Publication date2014-12-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueEthnic and Racial Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0141-9870 • E-ISSN: 1466-4356
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/01419870.2013.848290
OpenAlexW2063751688
LanguageEN
Citations received28
References cited35

Based on over four years of ethnographic research among street vendors in Los Angeles and on interviews with family members of vendors and former vendors living in Mexico, this article examines the influence of a sending community and its social networks on migrant outcomes in the USA. These social networks affect migration patterns, ease entry into the fruit-vending business but also facilitate exploitation. Furthermore, these social networks do not always function as effective conduits of information because its members, due to feelings of shame or embarrassment, often fail to add to the existing body of knowledge. As a result, international migration patterns, job placement and exploitative practices do not change or improve for subsequent migrants. This creates a cycle in which social networks become stagnant and successively fail to function as effective conduits of information and resources in ways that might help network members equally and in the aggregate

Affect (linguistics · Business · Embarrassment · Ethnography · Feeling · Function (biology · Immigration · Political science · Public relations · Shame · Social media · Social network (sociolinguistics · Sociology · Communication · Diaspora, migration, transnational identity · Marketing · Migration and Labor Dynamics · Migration, Ethnicity, and Economy · Psychology · Social Psychology