International migration, "middle classness" and the state.

Abstract

"This paper examines the issues of who is likely to migrate and why, and what happens when people migrate, by viewing the migratory process as a strategy formulated and implemented by networks of kin for culturally surviving the redefinitions of contemporary political systems within the context of the capitalist world economy. Specifically the argument presented is that people move across the juridical boundaries of contemporary nation-states as part of household strategies designed to maintain membership in a specific social stratum. For a substantial number this social stratum is a middle class. Self-identification with a social stratum, in other words, takes precedence over self-identification with, and commitments to, nation, region or ethnic group."