Session Information
Contribution
Background
East to West migration is now one of the most important socio-economic phenomena in Europe (Penninx, 2006). Research suggests that families often migrate to give children a ‘better future’. However, adults often make decisions based on factors such as employment, which their children have no control over (Orellana, 2003). Few studies have explored how family migration impacts on children’s opportunities for education and integration, and on their relationships and well-being. The study presented here explored the effects of family migration on Eastern European migrant children’s family and peer relationships and the ways in which children build social networks and develop their social and cultural capital in the new environment.
Research objective, focus of enquiry and research questions
The main aim of this ESRC-funded study was to explore the experiences of children from Eastern European families newly arrived in Scotland in terms both of short-term goals (e.g. learning the language, attending school, making friends) and long-term goals (e.g. passing exams, becoming competent English speakers, rebuilding social capital). We wanted to examine children’s agency in developing families’ social networks after migration.
The research questions investigated were:
· What are the experiences of dislocation and acculturation of Eastern European children in Scotland?
· What are their main social, cultural and emotional challenges?
· How is family migration affecting children’s relationships with their parents, siblings and extended family?
· What are tensions, if any, between the self-defined needs of children from Eastern European families in relation to the access to and quality of services and the service providers’ perceptions?
· How could provision of education and other services be improved to support better the integration of the new migrants and their children?
Theoretical framework
The study uses the theory of social capital as a lens through which to view data rather than apply it dogmatically. Social capital has been selected because of its relevance to the acculturation of migrant children; it provides a powerful tool of examining social relations and processes (Baron, 2000; Putnam, 2000). Putnam defines social capital as ‘Features of social life- networks, norms and trust- that enable participants to act together more effectively to pursue shared objectives’ (2000:2). Knoke and Kuklinski (1991:177) list among the relational types that can be investigated: transactions, instrumental relations, communications, sentiment, kinship and authority/power. They explained that the crucial variable of family networks is their connectedness – ‘the extent to which people known by a family know and meet one another independent of the family’.Hieronymi (2004) claims that the success of migrants in developing social networks within the community increases their chances of successful acculturation and acceptance. Our focus is on social integration, understood as participation, access and belonging.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Baron,S. (2000) Social capital: Critical perspectives, OUP. Hieronymi, K. (2004) Identity, integration and assimilation: Factors of success and failure of migration, Refugee Survey Quarterly, 24(4), 132-150. James,A. (1998). Theorizing childhood, Cambridge: Polity. Orr, A. (2003) Black-white differences in achievement: The importance of wealth, Sociology of Education, 76, 281-304 Orellana,M. (2003) Transnational Childhoods: The participation of children in processes of family migration, Social Problems, 48(4), pp. 572-591. Penninx,R. (2006) The dynamics of international migration and settlement in Europe, Amsterdam:AUP. Putnam,R. (2000) Bowling alone, US: Simon Schuster.
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