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1. A Conceptual Take on Transnational Families: Atypical Families from a Distance

Author:
Nur Banu Kavaklı
Publication Date:
12-2023
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
AURUM Journal of Social Sciences
Institution:
Altinbas University
Abstract:
Transnational families are among the by-products of global capitalism, the feminization of migration and the globalization of care work. Transnational families owe their existence to the rise of communication and transportation technologies, economic transformations, and cultural features in their countries of origin and destination. A transnational family is different from an ordinary immigrant family. The defining factor is not the act of cross-border movement of the family, but the dispersion of the family, nuclear or extended, across international borders, where different family members spend time in one or another country depending on various factors. The emergence of transnational family experience relates to economic, political, social, and cultural factors, and has far-reaching causes and consequences. This study offers a new conceptual approach to the discussion of transnational families departing from Judith Stacey’s (1996) “postmodern family condition”. As a family arrangement made possible in the postmodern family condition, transnational families better describe situations in which families are not visible yet not absent, not necessarily broken but separated. Transnational families require a whole new understanding and definition of familial relationships, which should focus on the fluid nature of those in the absence of a concrete family setting. The role of immigrant women in such a family structure stands as a challenge to the stereotypical “modern family” as defined by Stacey; hence, enabling the conceptualization of transnational families as part of the postmodern condition. The impact transnational family experience has on various actors involved is examined by asking some fundamental questions such as: How are the decisions concerning who migrate under what conditions taken? How does the transnational family experience affect gender relations? What are the global and local conditions that make this experience possible? This study employs a three-layered approach to analyze the issue. First, the structural backdrop to transnational families is analysed; namely, the expansion of global capitalism that feeds female labour migration and the demand for the service sector, especially domestic care services. Second, the changes in the concept of family due to societal structural transformations and the emergence of new family forms are discussed. Third, the consequences of the first two aspects of the experience of transnational family life and its impact on parties involved at various levels are analysed: providers of care work and their families (parents, children, and extended family members), receivers of care work (employers and their families), and mediators of global care work (agencies and states).
Topic:
Migration, Women, Capitalism, Family, transnationalism, Motherhood, and Care work
Political Geography:
Global Focus

2. Top Wealth and Its Historical Origins: An Analysis of Germany’s Largest Privately Held Fortunes in 2019

Author:
Daria Tisch and Emma Ischinsky
Publication Date:
04-2023
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Max Planck Sciences Po Center on Coping with Instability in Market Societies (MaxPo)
Abstract:
Rising wealth inequality is both a topic in recent policy discussion and in the social sciences. Despite the general interest in wealth concentration, we know only little about the largest privately held fortunes. To help fill this gap we analyze the historical origins of Germany’s 1,032 largest fortunes in 2019. In particular, we identify the share of entrenched fortunes – fortunes which date back to the beginning of the twentieth century – and ask to what extent they differ from more recently established ones. Furthermore, we examine in an exploratory way if entrenched fortunes are connected to fortunes with more recent origins through family lines. We use a journalistic rich list published by the manager magazin in 2019, which we link with both rich lists from 1912/1914 and Wikidata. We find that about eight percent of today’s fortunes can be traced back to fortunes held by the same families in 1913. Regression analyses show that entrenched fortunes rank on average higher on the rich list than the remaining ones. Descriptive network analyses indicate that some of today’s largest fortunes are intertwined through marital lines, hinting at social closure at the top. Our findings indicate that the accumulation and perpetuation of fortunes over many generations is an important feature of top wealth in Germany.
Topic:
Inequality, Family, Elites, Wealth, Inheritance, and Network Analysis
Political Geography:
Europe and Global Focus

3. A Teleological and Child-Sensitive Interpretation of a Country of Former Habitual Residence for Stateless Children Born Outside Their Parents’ Country of Nationality or Former Habitual Residence

Author:
Sharelle Anne Aitchison
Publication Date:
07-2022
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
Statelessness & Citizenship Review
Institution:
Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Melbourne Law School
Abstract:
The notion of a country of former habitual residence — as the functional equivalent of a country of nationality for stateless individuals and the reference point for the ‘being persecuted’ inquiry in art 1A(2) of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees — is an ill fit for stateless children born outside the country of nationality or former habitual residence of their parent(s). On a plain, ordinary reading of the definition, stateless children born in the country of refuge have neither a nationality nor a former habitual residence and fall outside the ambit of the refugee definition. In a similar fashion, stateless children born prior to arrival in the country of refuge (but not in the country of nationality or designated country of former habitual residence of their parent(s)) are unable to establish the country of reference element, as read with all other indicia of refugeehood. In the context of concurrent family claims, this predicament exposes an obvious inequity of access to refugee status and a consequent risk of refoulement to serious harm, as such children may face return to the country of nationality or former habitual residence of their parent(s). While the dominant tide of jurisprudence supports a literal interpretation of the notion, Michelle Foster and Hélène Lambert have identified a purposive pathway, better aligned with the humanitarian scope of the refugee definition. For such applicants, this interpretation allows for the determination of country of reference in combination with forward-looking considerations on their returnability and risk of persecution upon return. This article endorses such an interpretation and comprehensively charts a child-sensitive approach to applying the criteria for refugee status (historically formulated from an adult-oriented perspective), by exploring what child-specific interests might better inform the notion in the context of the individualised refugee assessment of concurrent family claims.
Topic:
Refugees, Family, Identity, and Nationality
Political Geography:
Global Focus

4. Marriage, Children, and Labor Supply: Beliefs and Outcomes

Author:
Yifan Gong, Todd Stinebrickner, and Ralph Stinebrickner
Publication Date:
04-2020
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP), Western University
Abstract:
While a large literature is interested in the relationship between family and labor supply outcomes, little is known about the expectations of these objects at earlier stages. We examine these expectations, taking advantage of unique data from the Berea Panel Study. In addition to characterizing expectations, starting during college, the data details outcomes for ten years after graduation. Methodological contributions come from approaches to validate quality of survey expectations data and the recognition that expectations data, along with longitudinal data, can potentially help address endogeneity issues arising in the estimation of the causal effect of family on labor supply.
Topic:
Economics, Labor Issues, Human Capital, Family, Labor Market, and Productivity
Political Geography:
Canada and Global Focus

5. Economic Mobility across Generations: Old versus New EU Member States

Author:
Roy van der Weide, Ambar Narayan, and Mario Negre
Publication Date:
01-2019
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS)
Abstract:
A country where an individual’s chances of success depend little on the socio-economic success of his or her parents is said to be a country with high relative intergenerational mobility. A government’s motivation for seeking to improve mobility is arguably two-fold. There is a fairness argument and an economic efficiency argument. When mobility is low, it means that individuals are not operating on a level playing field. The odds of someone born to parents from the bottom of their generation will be stacked against him or her. This is not only unfair but also leads to a waste of human capital, as talented individuals may not be given the opportunity to reach their full potential. Reducing this inefficiency will raise the stock of human capital and thereby stimulate economic growth. Since the waste of human capital tends to be concentrated toward the bottom of the distribution, the growth brought about by mobility-promoting policy interventions tends to be of an inclusive nature, in line with the spirit of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 10 on reducing inequality. For large parts of the world’s population, individual education is still too closely tied to the education of one’s parents, and there is a clear divide between the high-income and developing world. The patterns observed globally are also observed within Europe. Intergenerational mobility (or equality of opportunity) is visibly lower in the new member states (i.e. Eastern Europe), where national incomes are lower. Raising investment in the human capital of poor children towards levels that are more comparable to the investment received by children from richer families will curb the importance of parental background in determining an individual’s human capital. Countries at any stage of development can raise intergenerational mobility by investing more to equalise opportunities. The evidence strongly suggests that public interventions are more likely to increase mobility when: a) public investments are sufficiently large, b) are targeted to benefit disadvantaged families/ neighbourhoods, c) focus on early childhood, and d) when there is a low degree of political power captured by the rich.
Topic:
Education, Children, Inequality, Family, and Economic Mobility
Political Geography:
Europe, Global Focus, and European Union

6. Safe but Not Settled: The Impact of Family Separation on Refugees in the UK

Author:
Oxfam Publishing
Publication Date:
01-2018
Content Type:
Research Paper
Institution:
Oxfam Publishing
Abstract:
Refugees in the UK often find themselves separated from their families by their brutal experiences of conflict and persecution, just at the time when they need each other the most. This separation can drag on for years or sometimes indefinitely because of the UK’s restrictive rules on refugee family reunion. This joint report by the Refugee Council and Oxfam is one of the first to look at how family reunion and ongoing forced separation from loved ones affect the ability of refugees to successfully integrate into UK society.
Topic:
Migration, Refugee Crisis, Displacement, Conflict, Borders, Family, and Humanitarian Crisis
Political Geography:
United Kingdom, Europe, and Global Focus

7. License to Be Yourself: Marriage and Forced Divorce

Publication Date:
04-2015
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The vast majority of trans people around the world cannot obtain legal recognition of—or official documents that match—their gender identity. Where laws do recognize trans people, they often exclude those who are married. This forces trans people to choose between legal recognition of their gender identity or their marriage. Forced divoce violates trans people’s right to privacy, marriage, and recognition under the law. This brief explains legal restrictions that affect the recognition of married trans and intersex people. It examines case law and addresses key arguments made by those who oppose such recognition. It is the first of four resources for activists that accompany Open Society’s 2014 report on legal gender recognition across the world, License to Be Yourself.
Topic:
Law, Discrimination, LGBT+, Family, Sexuality, Marriage, and Transgender
Political Geography:
Global Focus