Family and Migration

Bibliographic Data

ID9953501
AuthorsWilfried Dumon (Catholic University of America, corresponding author), W A Dumon
Year1989
Volume27
Issue2
Pages251-270
Publication date1989-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueInternational Migration (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0020-7985 • E-ISSN: 1468-2435
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-2435.1989.tb00255.x
PMID12315897
OpenAlexW2061647242
LanguageEN
Citations received8
References cited43

This paper examines the effects of international migration on internal family structure, as well as the adaptation and integration of families into receiving countries. The importance of the role and function of the family in migration research can be examined from 3 angles: theoretical, methodological, and empirical (that is, the societal relevance of family in migration). A renewed theoretical perspective views the family in the sending country instead of the individual as the focus of attention, and reveals that 1) migration patterns are not exclusively among the poor or unemployed; 2) migration is not always for the benefit of the immigrant; and 3) migration should be studied as a process, not as a result. Recent studies show that 1) family or kinship migration is increasingly important and that families help new migrants adapt to the receiving country, both emotionally and financially; 2) family and kinship ties tend to become consolidated in the receiving country; and 3) the family helps migrants cope with stress caused by the migration experience. Studies on families' preservation of culture and adaptation of culture and behavior have gone from 1) descriptive to analytical and, 2) focusing on the receiving society to focusing on the strategies used by immigrants (from value-conformity to an individualistic-situation approach). Migration also causes changes in family organization and functioning, which should be studied as an internal process inside the family and as complex group. Within the family are 3 sets of substructures which change during the process of adaptation and/or assimilation to/into the receiving society: 1) the husband-wife relationship, 2) the parent-child relationship, and 3) the relationship among siblings

Political science · Migration and Labor Dynamics

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