Migrants’ transnational social positioning strategies in the middle classes

Abstract

This paper examines the influence of class on migrants’ social positioning strategies in transnational spaces. It contributes to debates about the processes of transnational class‐making and class formation. Going beyond an analysis of class in socio‐economic terms, the paper focuses on peoples’ (changing) subjective understandings of middle‐class membership as a relevant factor in migrants’ transnational social positioning strategies. Based on qualitative interview data with middle‐class migrants in Germany, the presentation relates their experiences with downward social mobility before and after migration to their subjective perspectives on middle‐class membership over time and in different places. The findings show that middle‐class performance is shaped by migration experiences but also shapes peoples’ mobility trajectories and therefore influences and promotes different transnational lifestyles.

Transnational social positioning through a family lens: How cross‐border family relations shape subjective social positions in migration contexts

“…Hence, subjective social positions are strongly contingent upon the reference groups that serve as a basis for social comparison (Major, 1994; see also Lindemann & Saar, 2014). In the specific case of migration, research has shown how various reference groups, composed of friends, relatives, and colleagues with deviating norms and values, promote experiences of multiple and sometimes conflicting social positions in different contexts (Faist et al, 2021;Stock, 2023;Wang & Shen, 2023). Therefore, the study of subjective social positions challenges the overly optimistic portrayal of migration as a means for upward social mobility (Jonsson, 2020, p. 205).…”