Migration, Risk and Uncertainty by Allan M. Williams Vladimír Baláž

Author:Allan M. Williams, Vladimír Baláž [Allan M. Williams, Vladimír Baláž]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Human Geography, Emigration & Immigration, Science, Earth Sciences, Geography
ISBN: 9781135085148
Google: gnQ9BAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2014-08-07T02:43:46+00:00

Networks: Knowledge Transfer and Risk

Networks are a resource that can mediate risk. In this section, we consider their role in mediating decisions about where to migrate to. However, because migration may also disrupt existing networks, leading to a decline in the resources available to migrants, it can also increase the risks they are exposed to. Social capital is not easily transferred between places, because it tends to be location specific, so that migration is often associated with loss of social capital (Fischer et al. 1997). Therefore, one factor that has to be considered by potential migrants is the risk of losing existing close ties and social capital, and the uncertainty attached to building new networks in the destination.

In a more positive vein, informal networks of families and friends can mediate risk, by providing information, housing support and assistance to find jobs. Haug (2008: 588) defines such migration networks as ‘a composite of interpersonal relations in which migrants interact with their family or friends’. The networks are likely to include both those with and without migration experiences, who can provide knowledge about the risks attached to different options in both the home region and potential destinations. Not all friends and relatives are likely to be equally trusted sources of knowledge. If you are intending to migrate to, say, London, you are more likely to trust the knowledge possessed by those who have lived there, or who have at least visited. But there may also be important distinctions made between best, close and casual friends. Close friends—unlike casual friends—are especially likely to be trusted. As Annis (1987: 354) comments, as a ‘friendship develops, an intricate web of reciprocal and mutual dispositions, beliefs, understandings, feelings, etc., develops’. As these intensify, they provide a basis for trust, founded on a belief that the close friend shares your dispositions and feelings about migration. Close friends are also defined in terms of being willing to participate in self-disclosure (Jourard 1971), and this type of confidential disclosure of inner feelings can be critical in helping to clarify attitudes to the risks associated with migration.

There are a number of ways in which networks—which embrace the origin, potential destination and other places—can influence migration. In one of the deeper studies of this topic, Haug (2008: 588) identifies five main forms of influence:

Affinity: strong ties to relatives and friends in the region of origin tend to reduce migration.

Information: relatives and friends at the destination act as information channels, thereby increasing the propensity to migrate (Coombs 1978).

Facilitation: Friends and relatives tend to funnel migration to particular locations because they reduce the costs of migration to these destinations, through provision of support for finding jobs and houses (Choldin 1973).

Conflict: conflicts within your network, in the family or community, may encourage migration.

Encouragement: individuals may encourage other family members to migrate for a variety of reasons, including the diversification of household income in the face of risk (see Chapter Six).

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