Fragmented Ties - Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America

1. Auflage 2000
ISBN: 978-0-520-22211-3
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 319 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 152 mm x 228 mm, Gewicht: 431 g

In one of the most comprehensive treatments of Salvadoran immigration to date, Cecilia Menjívar gives a vivid and detailed account of the inner workings of the networks by which immigrants leave their homes in Central America to start new lives in the Mission District of San Francisco. Menjívar traces crucial aspects of the immigrant experience, from reasons for leaving El Salvador, to the long and perilous journey through Mexico, to the difficulty of finding work, housing, and daily necessities in San Francisco. Fragmented Ties argues that hostile immigration policies, shrinking economic opportunities, and a resource-poor community make assistance conditional and uneven, deflating expectations both on the part of the new immigrants and the relatives who preceded them. In contrast to most studies of immigrant life that identify networks as viable sources of assistance, this one focuses on a case in which poverty makes it difficult for immigrants to accumulate enough resources to help each other.

Menjívar also examines how class, gender, and age affect immigrants' access to social networks and scarce community resources. The immigrants' voices are stirring and distinctive: they describe the dangers they face both during the journey and once they arrive, and bring to life the disappointments and joys that they experience in their daily struggle to survive in their adopted community.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Menjivar, Cecilia

Menjívar, Cecilia

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Gruppen/Soziale Themen Soziale Gruppen & Klassen
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Spezielle Soziologie Soziologie von Migranten und Minderheiten
• Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie | Soziale Arbeit Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik Soziale Arbeit/Sozialpädagogik: Minderheiten

Inhaltsverzeichnis

List of Tables
Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. The Structure of Opportunities, Social Networks,
and Social Position
2. Background to Migration
3· The Long Journey through Mexico
4· The Context of Reception in the United States
5· The Dynamics of Social Networks
6. Gendered Networks
7· Informal Exchanges and Intergenerational Relations
8. Immigrant Social Networks and the Receiving Context

Appendix A. Crossing Boundaries: A Personal Note on Research
Appendix B. Study Participants
Notes
References
Index

Map

Über Autor(innen)

Cecilia Menjívar is Professor and Dorothy L. Meier Social Equities Chair in the Department of Sociology at UCLA. She is the author of Fragmented Ties: Salvadoran Immigrant Networks in America (UC Press), among other books. Menjivar won the Julian Samora Distinguished Career Award from the Latino/a Sociology section of the American Sociological Association.