Transnational Families and Social Remittances

Many migrants today live transnational lives, keeping strong ties to two or more countries at once. In the early 1990s anthropologists Nina Glick Schiller, Linda Basch and Cristina Szanton Blanc used the term transnationalism to describe this, arguing that migrants were not simply uprooted but lived across borders.

Cheap calls, video chats and air travel have deepened these ties. Sociologist Peggy Levitt coined the term social remittances in 1998 for the ideas, behaviours and values that migrants send home alongside money, such as new views on education, gender roles or politics.

Hometown associations formed by migrants fund schools, clinics and festivals in their villages of origin, and Mexico's 3x1 programme matched such contributions with public money. Transnational families also face strains, including children raised by grandparents while parents work abroad. This shows that globalization reshapes families as well as economies.