TY - JOUR
T1 - Immigrant kinship networks and the impact of the receiving context
T2 - Salvadorans in San Francisco in the early 1990s
AU - Menjívar, Cecilia
PY - 1997/2
Y1 - 1997/2
N2 - Based on ethnographic fieldwork and intensive interviews, this article analyses the assistance 50 recently arrived Salvadorans in San Francisco obtained from their families. Two distinct profiles emerged: one where immigrant newcomers received sustained assistance from their kinfolk, and the other where such support faltered upon their arrival. Focusing on the experiences of the latter group, I argue that kinfolk can provide benefits only when material and physical conditions in the receiving context permit. Unfavorable factors, such as government immigration policies, local labor market opportunities, and the organization of the reception in the community, created conditions for weakened kinship networks. This study warns that immigrant kinship networks are not reproduced automatically in the new environment. These social relations are contingent upon the physical and material conditions within which they unfold.
AB - Based on ethnographic fieldwork and intensive interviews, this article analyses the assistance 50 recently arrived Salvadorans in San Francisco obtained from their families. Two distinct profiles emerged: one where immigrant newcomers received sustained assistance from their kinfolk, and the other where such support faltered upon their arrival. Focusing on the experiences of the latter group, I argue that kinfolk can provide benefits only when material and physical conditions in the receiving context permit. Unfavorable factors, such as government immigration policies, local labor market opportunities, and the organization of the reception in the community, created conditions for weakened kinship networks. This study warns that immigrant kinship networks are not reproduced automatically in the new environment. These social relations are contingent upon the physical and material conditions within which they unfold.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0040600674&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0040600674&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1525/sp.1997.44.1.03x0215g
DO - 10.1525/sp.1997.44.1.03x0215g
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0040600674
SN - 0037-7791
VL - 44
SP - 104
EP - 123
JO - Social Problems
JF - Social Problems
IS - 1
ER -