Marrying for Papers? From Economically Strategic to Normative and Relational Dimensions of the Transition to Adulthood for Unauthorized 1.5-generation Brazilians

Bibliographic Data

ID2363381
AuthorsKara Cebulko (Providence College, Providence, RI, USA, corresponding author)
Year2016
Volume59
Issue4
Pages760-775
Publication date2016-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0731-1214 • E-ISSN: 1533-8673
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0731121415611684
OpenAlexW2215736639
LanguageEN
Citations received9
References cited42

Public rhetoric suggests that unauthorized immigrants may engage in marriage fraud for legal security and economic gain. Academic scholarship that emphasizes economically strategic actors corroborates this claim. Drawing on in-depth interviews with 1.5-generation unauthorized Brazilian young adults, I find that most of my respondents are opposed to marrying strictly for papers, even though becoming 'legally American' could bring opportunities for socioeconomic mobility. Like their American peers in young adulthood, many 1.5-generation Brazilians emphasized that they are not interested in marrying in their 20s. Women, in particular, articulated their internalization of lifecourse norms as a function of their socialization in the United States. Yet, 1.5-generation Brazilians also disclosed that they did not want to establish new relationships or transform old relationships for instrumental reasons. Ultimately, strategic-economic approaches provide less insight into why my respondents do not marry for papers than the normative and relational dynamics of their transitions to adulthood

Immigration · Normative · Political science · Population · Rhetoric · Scholarship · Social science · Socialization · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Family Dynamics and Relationships · Law · Migration and Labor Dynamics

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