The role of various types of capital in transnational labor migration from the Philippines

Abstract

The Philippine government has been engaged in state-supported international labor migration for more than 40 years. Migrants and non-migrants alike are embedded in multifocal transnational lives as family members and friends are spread over different localities and nation-states. This study looks at the role of economic, social, cultural and symbolic capital as defined by Bourdieu (1986) in Filipino migration. The article analyzes the transformability of the different forms of capital in relation to labor migration. Moreover, the study asks how the four forms of capital are transferred from the Philippines to the destination country and back to the Philippines. Based on ethnographic data collected in the United Arab Emirates and the Philippines, the study concludes that having economic, social and cultural capital largely decides whether one is able to migrate and what destinations are accessible. Cultural capital is not easily transferable across the transnational space due to discriminating labor markets. After return, migrants have gained symbolic capital through the migration experience.