Journal of Ethnic and Migration
Studies
Volume 30, Number 2, March 2004
Special issue: Family migration in the new
Europe
Guest editors: Adrian Bailey and Paul Boyle
Adrian Bailey and Paul Boyle
Untying and retying family migration in the new Europe [Abstract]
Eleonore Kofman
Family-related migration: a critial review of European studies [Abstract]
Darren P. Smith
An ‘untied’ research agenda for family migration: loosening the ‘shackles’ of
the past [Abstract]
Jeroen Smits, Clara H. Mulder and Pieter Hooimeijer
Migration of couples with non-employed and employed wives in the Netherlands:
the changing effects of the partners’ characteristics [Abstract]
Parvati Raghuram
The difference that skills make: gender, family migration strategies and
regulated labour markets [Abstract]
Liesbeth Heering, Rob van der Erf and Leo van Wissen
The role of family networks and migration culture in the continuation of
Moroccan emigration: a gender perspective [Abstract]
Robin Flowerdew and Alaa Al-Hamad
The relationship between marriage, divorce and migration in a British data set [Abstract]
Agata Górny and Ewa Kępińska
Mixed marriages in migration from the Ukraine to Poland [Abstract]
Louise Ackers
Citizenship, migration and the valuation of care in the European Union [Abstract]
Keith Halfacree
Untying migration completely: de-gendering or radical transformation? [Abstract]
Adrian Bailey and Paul Boyle
Untying and retying family migration in the new Europe
Abstract This special issue comes at a time when political debates on
the future of a ‘United Europe’ are raging. As more countries are gradually
being introduced into the EU superstate, old questions take on new importance.
The focus of this issue is on migration and, in particular, family migration. We
suggest that this is a critical topic in the European research agenda. We
consider both how family-related migration affects the social, demographic, and
economic contours of the emerging European superstate, and also how the
superstate and its political functioning itself influences family migration. We
argue that the transformation of Europe into a single market represents a
significant conceptual challenge for those accounts of family migration that
wish to inform social policy. However, to date, research on family migration in
Europe lacks the coherent theoretical focus exhibited by case-study research
from North America. Also, despite the recent recognition that most geographic
mobility implicitly and explicitly involves families, the role of the household
in migration continues to be poorly understood, particularly in the European
context.
Keywords: Family migration; New
Europe; Gender; Demographic ageing; Labour markets
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004 Taylor and
Francis Ltd)
Eleonore Kofman
Family-related migration: a critial review of European studies
Abstract Despite being the dominant mode of legal entry for the past
two decades in European Union states, the study of family migration has been
marginalised theoretically, methodologically and empirically. In settler
societies, family migration has been interpreted more loosely and has been
encouraged. The definition of who constitutes the family is determined by the
state and is generally interpreted in highly restrictive terms in EU states.
Family-related migration has been neglected because of the emphasis in migration
studies on the individual, a heavily economic focus, and an association with
female migration based on the dichotomy of male producer and female reproducer.
In policy terms it is treated as a secondary form of migration subordinate to
and divorced from labour markets. However since the late 1980s family-related
migrations have become the subject of scholarly research, especially North
American and Asian-Pacific, using network analysis and, more recently, concepts
of transnationalism. In this paper I firstly explore the reasons for the
relative neglect of family-linked migration in European research which has
focused on the integration of migrant families in receiving societies and the
legal and policy conditions of family reunification. Secondly, I examine some of
the implications of changing family-led migration, especially at key moments and
stages of the life course, and the increasing restrictions imposed on this form
of migration, highlighting the continuing role of the nation-state.
Keywords: Family; Migration; Europe,
Gender; Policies
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004
Taylor and Francis Ltd)
Darren P. Smith
An ‘untied’ research agenda for family migration: loosening the ‘shackles’ of
the past
Abstract This paper focuses on recent methodological and theoretical
developments associated with studies of long-distance family migration. The
starting point for the discussion is that previous quantitative-based studies
have over-privileged economic-related outcomes, and masked the underlying social
and cultural decision-making processes of family migrants. Emphasising the
perceived merits of qualitative frameworks to tease out the ‘non-economic’
dimensions of family migration, the paper identifies two issues of concern.
First, some current under-researched themes of family migration are illuminated,
and an unfolding research agenda for qualitative studies of family migration is
outlined. It is contended that this provides a useful entrée to future research
activities. Second, and with this in mind, the paper stresses the need for more
sophisticated analyses of the human agency of family migrants. Therefore, and
building upon Halfacree’s thesis of the intentional/unintentional agency of
family migrants, an adaptation of Giddens’ stratification model of action is
presented. It is argued that this will allow a more structurationist reading of
family migration decision-making processes, and a fuller understanding of
non-economic processes and outcomes. Finally, the paper stresses the
complementarity between qualitative and qualitative methods, and calls for the
utilisation of mixed-method research designs for studies of family migration.
Keywords: Long-distance family migration;
Qualitative methods; Biographical approach; Agency
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004 Taylor and
Francis Ltd)
Jeroen Smits,
Clara H. Mulder and Pieter Hooimeijer
Migration of couples with non-employed and employed wives in the Netherlands:
the changing effects of the partners’ characteristics
Abstract Data for 1977 and 1995/96 are used to study (changes in) the
effects of the partners’ resources on long-distance migration of couples in the
Netherlands. The analyses were performed separately for couples with employed
and with non-employed women. In 1977, couples with non-employed women showed the
classical pattern of family migration, with strong effects of the human capital
and labour market characteristics of the male and the females mostly using their
power to prevent migration. The couples with employed women, on the other hand,
in 1977 already showed a more modern pattern of family migration. The effects of
the male's occupational prestige and sector were not significant for these
couples and an age advantage of the male did not lead to more migration. Over
time, the position of the employed women seems to have become even stronger and
our results suggest that in 1996 at least some of them were able to initiate a
move for their own career and hence to turn their husband into a tied mover.
Keywords: Long-distance migration; Wife’s
employment; Changing influence; Marital power
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004 Taylor and
Francis Ltd)
Parvati Raghuram
The difference that skills make: gender, family migration strategies and
regulated labour markets
Abstract Although skilled migration now represents the only
'acceptable' form of migration into the UK there has so far been little analysis
of the ways in which the shift in the skills of the primary migrant reconfigures
family migration. In this paper I outline some reasons for this neglect
highlighting the ways in which two related sets of debates, that on gender and
international migration into Europe and that on tied migration, have not yet
adequately addressed the changing role of migrant women in contemporary labour
markets. Both offer a critique of patriarchy within the household but neither
have examined the ways in which immigration regulations intersect with labour
market conditions in influencing family strategies around labour market
participation of men and women in migrant households. Through the example of
medical labour markets I argue that such an analysis is necessary for
understanding family migration amongst the skilled.
Keywords: Family migration; Skilled
migration; Gender; Medical labour markets; Immigration regulations; Career
structure
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004
Taylor and Francis Ltd)
Liesbeth
Heering, Rob van der Erf and Leo van Wissen
The role of family networks and migration culture in the continuation of
Moroccan emigration: a gender perspective
Abstract About 1.5 million people of Moroccan origin live as legal
migrants in the countries of the European Union. For several decades, emigration
has affected various provinces of Morocco. In some regions, the process started
more than forty years ago; in others the migration experience is much more
recent. This study seeks to portray from a micro perspective the ongoing
migration processes from Morocco, in particular to Western Europe. Emphasis is
placed on the effect of family networks and migration culture on the intention
to emigrate of Moroccan men and women without international migration
experience. We focus especially on gender differences since the position and the
roles played by men and women both within the family and within the Moroccan
society are very different. This gender distinction reveals remarkable
differences between men and women in the intention to emigrate, and in its
explanation. For men, emigration intentions are stronger in regions having a
migration culture, while at the same time the presence of family networks abroad
has a negative but small effect on the emigration intention. For women, however,
the existence of a migration culture has no effect on the intention to leave the
country, whereas family networks abroad tend to increase this intention.
Interestingly, women with a paid job and who judge their financial situation
negatively have the highest emigration intentions. This may indicate that, among
Moroccan women, the more modernised, especially, intend to migrate. The more
conservative Moroccan women are not likely to express an intention to migrate on
their own. Rather, they behave in a manner that suits the husband or family.
This behaviour may, or may not, include an emigration decision.
Keywords: Migration; Migration culture;
Family networks; Gender; Morocco
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004 Taylor and
Francis Ltd)
Robin Flowerdew and Alaa Al-Hamad
The relationship between marriage, divorce and migration in a British data set
Abstract Family and kinship factors are important as motivations for
moving and as major considerations promoting or deferring migration. This is
most obviously the case for family events that involve the establishment of new
households or the dissolution of old ones, through cohabitation, marriage,
separation and divorce. The overall importance of such events can be gauged from
life-history data where the timing of residential moves and family events are
both recorded. One such data set, from the Social Change and Economic Life
Initiative, is used in this paper. The results confirm that there is indeed a
relationship between these family events and migration, although there is a
surprising number of separations, in particular, which do not seem to have
involved residential moves. It may be noted that migration does not necessarily
coincide exactly with marriage or divorce, and moves related to these events may
sometimes occur a year or two before or after. This is to be expected because
residential moves associated with household formation or dissolution may occur
well before the family event is made official through marriage or divorce.
Keywords: Marriage; Divorce;
Migration; Social change; Economic life initiative
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004 Taylor and
Francis Ltd)
Agata Górny and Ewa Kępińska
Mixed marriages in migration from the Ukraine to Poland
Abstract In the early 1990s, Poland, a previously migrant-exporting
country, became the destination for immigrants from a range of different regions
and countries. Most foreigners came from the former Soviet Union and especially
from the Ukraine. The article uses the case study of Polish–Ukrainian marriages
to demonstrate the importance of the phenomenon of mixed marriages in the light
of contemporary migration to Poland. It is shown that temporary movements to
Poland contribute to the volume of mixed marriages that are contracted and that
the population of foreigners married to Polish citizens constitutes a large part
of contemporary settlement migration to Poland. We argue that patterns of mixed
marriages and their formation can be explained by an economic approach to human
behaviour, adjusted so as to take into account a framework of migration from
ex-USSR to Poland.
Keywords: Ukraine–Poland migration; Mixed
marriages; Mates selection; Economic approach; Gender
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004 Taylor and
Francis Ltd)
Louise Ackers
Citizenship, migration and the valuation of care in the European Union
Abstract This paper examines the relationship between care and
mobility. It does so within the specific context of intra-EU migration and the
development of European citizenship. Citizenship of the Union bestows valuable
social rights on mobile community nationals. Entitlement under the provisions is
not, however, universal but conditional and privileges those in paid work. The
paper considers the implications of this emphasis on paid work in two related
respects: firstly, the impact on those people who move as part of the ‘male
breadwinning family’ but are not engaged in paid work (the partners and families
of workers); and secondly those community citizens whose migration decisions are
shaped by the need to provide unpaid care to family members. Drawing on
empirical research with migrant families, the paper concludes that the concept
of work in Community law places those people who are not engaged in paid work
(and family carers in particular) in a highly vulnerable and dependent position.
Furthermore, the assumption of fixed and predictable dependency relationships
within migrant families that underpins the law (and to some degree migration
theory) fails to take account of the fluid and complex nature of dependency and
caring relationships over the life-course.
Keywords: Migration; Mobility; Care;
Citizenship; Family; European law; Life-course
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004 Taylor and
Francis Ltd)
Keith Halfacree
Untying migration completely: de-gendering or radical transformation?
Abstract Tied migration for (heterosexual) partners has been
shown to have a clear gender dimension; it is usually the female migrant who is
‘tied’ – whose employment career is negatively disrupted for the sake of her
male partner’s employment career progression. A clear policy and cultural
outcome from this work would be to advocate the diffusion of egalitarian
household decision-making environments with respect to employment careers. Thus,
labour migration will become ‘de-gendered’. This paper problematises this
liberal and meritocratic agenda by pointing to some of its more problematic
elements. These difficulties arise from a discursive narrowing of the concept of
‘career’ and serve to promote a limited instrumentalist esprit de vivre on the
part of both men and women. More generally, de-gendering labour migration fits
conveniently with the enhanced globalisation project of contemporary capitalism.
The importance of ties to distinctive places for people’s everyday life and
well-being is excised from such a project, and de-gendering labour migration can
facilitate this excision. Thus, I argue for a radical utopian political project
that enmeshes de-gendering within a broader critique of current socio-political
structures. In sum, migration must be untied completely.
Keywords: Tied migration; Gender;
Patriarchy; Global capitalism; Radical politics
(Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies Vol. 30 No. 2, © 2004 Taylor and
Francis Ltd)