Conclusion Theoretical Convergencies and Empirical Evidence in the Study of Immigrant Transnational Ism

Conclusion: Theoretical Convergencies and Empirical Evidence in the Study of ImmigrantTransnationalismAuthor(s): Alejandro PortesSource: International Migration Review, Vol. 37, No. 3, Transnational Migration: InternationalPerspectives (Fall, 2003), pp. 874-892Published by: The Center for Migration Studies of New York, Inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30037760Accessed: 03/04/2009 02:49

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Conclusion: Theoretical Convergencies and Empirical Evidence in the Study of Immigrant Transnationalism Alejandro Portes Princeton University

Conclusions to books or journal issues commonly seek to summarize the preceding articles or chapters and offer some general guidelines about the relevant subject matter. This is a demanding but feasible task when the preceding material consists of empirical studies that lend themselves to an effort of synthesis. When the contents of the book or journal are, as in this case, themselves summaries of the literature and general reflections on the character of the field, the synthetic enterprises become far more demanding. It is difficult to agree with the conclusions and prescriptions of some authors without disagreeing with those of others. It is also unfair to take advantage of having the last word to comment critically on the arguments or recommendations advanced in the preceding articles.

The editors of this issue have ably summarized in their introduction the principal arguments presented in each article. It would be an unnec- essary duplication to do so here. Instead, I propose to do the opposite of what is generally expected in a conclusion. That is, instead of presenting theoretical reflections on empirical materials, I intend to supplement the abundant theoretical arguments contained in this issue with a summary presentation of actual results. The latter come from the recently com- pleted surveys of the Comparative Immigrant Entrepreneurship Project (CIEP). Before doing so, however, it would be useful to summarize some of the empirical and conceptual points on which the until-recently contentious literature on transnationalism has reached a measure of consensus. They represent indicators of progress, insofar as the weight of evidence and subsequent reflection on it have gradually led scholars from very different perspectives to agree on the tenability of certain arguments and the weakness of others.

CONVERGENCIES

The following five conclusions appear to have achieved a measure of consensus among specialists in this field.

1. Transnationalism represents a novel perspective, not a novel phenomenon.

The debate about whether there is "anything new" about the practices labeled

© 2003 by the Center for Migration Studies of New York. All rights reserved. 0198-9183/03/3703.0143

IMR Volume 37 Number 3 (Fall 2003):874-892 874

THEORETICAL CONVERGENCIES AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE

today transnational appears to have been settled with the recognition that there are abundant precedents in immigration history, but that what was lack- ing was a cogent theoretical perspective to illuminate their similarities so that they could be identified as in some sense "the same." Absent this perspective, such instances would remain isolated historical tales without cumulating, in any sense, toward the development of new typologies or predictions. Merton's classic analysis of the "fallacy of adumbration" by which novel ideas are subjected to the contradictory accusations that if they are new, they are not really true, or if they are true, they are not really new, is worth recalling at this point. In Merton's own words, once "... an idea has been formulated defi-

nitely enough and emphatically enough that it cannot be overlooked by con- temporaries, it then becomes easy to find anticipations of it" (1968:16). Robert Smith brings the point home in his article for this issue, noting that "... if transnational life existed in the past but was not seen as such, then the transnational lens does the new analytical work of providing a way of seeing what was there that could not be seen before" (2003:1).

A subsidiary but important point of agreement is the recognition that, although plenty of instances of transnationalism can be found in the history of immigration, the phenomenon has been given a big push by the advent of new technologies in transportation and telecommunications which greatly facilitate rapid communication across national borders and long distances. No matter how strong the motivations of earlier immigrants to sustain ties - economic, political or cultural - with their countries of origin, the means at their disposal to accomplish this goal were quite meager in comparison to those available to today's sojourners. This explains a good part, if not all, of the density and complexity achieved by contemporary immigrant transnationalism and indeed is largely responsible for its discovery as a phenomenon worth scholarly attention (Guarnizo, 2003; Levitt, 2001; Kivisto, 2001).

2. Transnationalism is a grassroots phenomenon.

Despite several earlier typologies that referred to transnationalism "from above" and "from below," with the first referring to the activities of governments and multinational corporations, the bulk of this literature has focused on the initiatives of common people to establish durable economic and other ties across national borders. By the same token, there is recognition, as the article by Steven Vertovec for this issue makes clear, that immigrants are not the only private actors engaged in this kind of venture (Vertovec, 2003). Grassroots nongovernmental associations and activists for human rights, the

875

INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION REVIEW

environment, and other global causes have also contributed to proliferating cross-border networks "from below" (Keck and Sikkink, 1998).

For this reason, a typology that distinguishes between the activities of national states, global multicentered institutions, and private noncorporate actors seems defensible. This typology, proposed in an earlier article and reproduced in Figure I, distinguishes between the international activities of governments and other institutions identified with a particular national state, the multinational initiatives of global institutions such as the Catholic Church and various agencies of the United Nations, and the transnational ventures of nongovernmental, noncorporate actors from civil society. Immi- grant transnationalism would fall under the latter category.

Clearly, as Rainer Baub6ck notes in his article for this issue, there is noth- ing sacred in this typology, and others can be developed as supplementary or alternative to it (Baubock, 2003). However, the purposes for which this classi- fication was advanced remain valid, regardless of which modifications are made. It serves to highlight two points. First is that the concept of transnationalism, as used in the contemporary research literature, refers primarily to the cross- border activities of private grassroots actors, including immigrants. Second, there is a need for language that distinguishes these activities from those of large bureaucracies and other institutions that have long been part of the global scene. Absent this distinction, the concept of transnationalism becomes a mud- dle of the most diverse sort of phenomena and loses its heuristic value for point- ing toward a limited and distinct social process.

3. Not all immigrants are transnationals.

The anthropological set of studies that effectively launched transnationalism as a novel perspective suggested that it was a pervasive phenomenon in contemporary immigrant communities. This justified, in part, rebaptizing immigrants as "transmigrants" insofar as they had ceased to pursue the traditional course of assimilation to engage wholesale in "multi-stranded" activities across national borders (Basch et al., 1994).

It is not surprising that the initial intellectual enthusiasm linked to the discovery of this phenomenon would lead to exaggerating its scope. The problem of sampling on the dependent variable associated with the case study method has been already noted as responsible for obscuring the absence of transnationalism in the everyday lives of many migrants (Smith, 2003; Portes, 2001). Subsequent research has indicated that regular involvement in transnational activities characterizes only a minority of immigrants and that

876


Cross-Border Activities by Different Types of Actors

Activities International

Multinational

Transnational

Political Establishment of embassies and organization of diplomatic missions abroad by national governments United Nations and other international agencies charged with monitoring and improving specialized areas of global life a) Non-governmental associations established to monitor human rights globally b) Hometown civic associations established by immigrants to improve their sending communities

Socio-cultural Travel and exchange programs organized by universities based on a specific country

Figure I.

Areas Economic Export drives by farming, ranch, and fishing organizations from a particular country

Production and marketing activities of global corporations with profits dependent on multiple national markets a) Boycotts organized

by grassroots activists in First World countries to compel multinationals to improve their Third World labor practices b) Enterprises established by immigrants to export/import goods to and from their home countries

Schools and missions sponsored by the Catholic Church and other global religions in multiple countries

a) Grassroots charities promoting the protection and care of children in poorer nations b) Election of beauty queens and selection of performing groups in immigrant communities to take part in annual hometown festivals

even occasional involvement is not a universal practice (Guarnizo, 2003; Lan- dolt, 2001). Although actions like sending an occasional remittance or visit- ing the home country undoubtedly qualify as part of what is labeled transnationalism, they can hardly justify by themselves the coining of a new term. These are activities in which migrants have engaged since time immemorial. Thus, we have the paradox that transnationalism, as a new theoretical lens in the field of immigration, is grounded on the activities of only a minority of the members of this population.

4. Immigrant transnationalism has macro-social consequences.

Despite its limited numerical character, the combination of a cadre of regular transnational activists with the occasional activities of other migrants adds up to a social process of significant economic and social impact for communities and even nations. While from an individual perspective the act of sending a remittance, buying a house in the migrant's hometown, or traveling there on

877


occasion have purely personal consequences, in the aggregate they can modi-

fy the fortunes and the cultures of these towns and even of the countries of which they are part. These and similar actions, multiplied by the thousands, translate into a flow of money that can become a prime source of foreign exchange for sending countries, into investments that sustain the home con- struction industry in these nations, and into new cultural practices that radi- cally modify the value systems and everyday lives of entire regions (Levitt, 2001; Itzigsohn et al., 1999; Ostergaard-Nielsen, 2001).

In his contribution to this issue, Luis Guarnizo notes the telling irony that the family remittances of a migrant worker concerned with the welfare of his or her family at home are "banked" by the sending country government as a reliable source of foreign exchange and even used as collateral for the solicitation of international loans. The financial magicians that rule the capitalist world have learned to rely not only on present remittances, but on the expectation of sustained future flows as a criterion for rating the credit-worthiness of nation- states and their eligibility for new investments. Thus, the diasporas created by myriad independent decisions of men and women seeking to improve their individual life chances become transformed over time into a key "export" of sending nations and one of the primary means of maintaining their integration into the world economy (Guarnizo, 2003; Roberts et al., 1999; Goldring, 1992).

This is the primary reason why sending country governments have taken such a keen interest in their expatriates in recent years, rushing to pass dual nationality and dual citizenship legislation and granting migrants repre- sentation in national legislatures. The research literature converges on this point by showing that the most diverse set of countries, from Eritrea to Colombia and from Turkey to Mexico, have taken steps to sustain durable linkages with their diasporas and promote their contributions and investments (Al-Ali et al., 2001; Guarnizo et al., 1999; Ostergaard-Nielsen, 2001, 2003; Fitzgerald, 2000; Smith, 1998). This governmental activism gives rise to another paradoxical turn of events, already described by Roberts and his associates (1999). Using Hirschman's famous typology, these authors note that while, prior to their moves abroad, immigrants were neglected and even repressed, their exit eventually endowed them with the political voice that they never had before, as a direct result of the efforts of home governments striving to preserve the migrants' loyalty to their country.

The vigorous actions of governments to promote and sustain transnationalism, particularly in the economic field, might suggest to some that offi-

878


cial policies are the main cause of these activities. That would be an erroneous

conclusion because the onset of transnational activities in all fields has been

due to the initiatives of the immigrants themselves, who have mobilized for this purpose their long-distance networks. As Vertovec (2003) notes, the concepts of social networks and social capital find in the field of transnational studies a uniquely fruitful application insofar as these activities are invariably grounded and sustained by grassroots social resources that make up for the dearth of economic or political means.

Governments have generally entered the field only after a definite set of transnational activities has been consolidated by popular initiative. Their entries have not been unproblematic: while outwardly friendly official policies may promote and expand transnational initiatives, they may also compromise their viability through attempts at co-optation and manipulation. This is the reason why many charitable and civic organizations, created through the grassroots efforts of immigrant activists, remain resolutely "non- political" and seek to maintain their distance from official enticements, lest they compromise the associations' goals (Landolt et al., 1999; Smith, 1998).

5. The extent and forms of transnational activism vary with contexts of exit and reception.

This point has been less contentious since it has been recognized from the start that transnational activities are quite heterogeneous and vary across immigrant communities, both in their popularity and in their character. One of the principal determinants of this variation is the contexts of exit and reception of particular groups which condition their propensity to engage in cross-border initiatives or even adopt them as their principal form of economic adaptation. One of the initial findings of the study summarized in the following section is that immigrants from urban areas who come escaping a situation of generalized violence at home tend to seek rapid integration in the host society and avoid active involvement in the one they left behind. Colom- bian immigrants provide a case in point (Guarnizo et al, 1999). Conversely, migrants from small towns and rural areas whose country of origin is at peace are significantly more prone to engage in transnational political and civic action in support of their home communities. Salvadoran migrants in the United States provide a well-known example (Landolt et al., 1999; Landolt, 2001; Menjivar, 2000).

The ways immigrants are incorporated in the host society also affect their propensity to engage in transnational initiatives. The existing evidence

879


suggests that immigrants who become dispersed and whose inconspicuous presence protects them from discrimination are less prone to engage in these ventures. On the other hand, transnational activities flourish in highly con- centrated communities, especially those that have been subjected to a hostile reception by the host society's authorities and citizenry. Large co-ethnic con- centrations create multiple opportunities for transnational enterprise, while extensive outside discrimination forces the group inwards encouraging durable contacts with its home communities.

In such contexts, transnational cultural activities and civic associations offer a source of solace against external hostility and protect personal digni- ties threatened by it. The experiences of Haitians, Dominicans and Mexicans in the United States and of Indian and Pakistani migrants in Great Britain, reported in numerous ethnographic studies, provide evidence of these ten- dencies (Glick Schiller and Fouron, 1999; Stepick, 1998; Stepick et al., 2001; Itzigsohn et al., 1999; Goldring, 1992; Roberts et al., 1999; Ballard, 2000).

QUANTITATIVE EVIDENCE

This section summarizes results from the Comparative Immigrant Entrepre- neurship Project (CIEP), the largest survey conducted so far explicitly designed to gather evidence on (he transnational economic, political and sociocultural activities of immigrant groups. While partial reports of these findings have been published elsewhere, a summary of the full results of the study is nowhere else available. I present them here to provide an empirical counterpoint to the theoretical arguments advanced previously. CIEP was a collaborative effort between universities on the east and west coasts of the United States that included both qualitative and quantitative fieldwork conducted between the fall of 1996 and winter of 1998.1

The initial phase of the study consisted of interviews with 353 key informants in six areas of immigrant concentration in the United States (two for each selected nationality) and six foreign cities, including the capital of each selected country of origin. The second phase of the project was a survey of the three targeted immigrant communities in their principal areas of concentration in the United States. The survey was conducted in two stages. The first consisted of a multi-level random sample based on city blocks as the primary sampling units (PSUs) and a systematic random sample of household

lThe project was based on collaborative agreements between Johns Hopkins University, the University of California-Davis, and Brown University. In its final stages, the project was head- quartered at the Center for Migration and Development, Princeton University.

880


heads from the selected nationalities in each block. The second was a referral sample, based on data gathered from informants in the first phase and conducted through multiple snowball chains. This part of the survey was desig- nated as a "special stratum" (Kish, 1967:409) and aimed at identifying immigrants involved in entrepreneurial activities in general and transnational activities in particular. This stratum insures the presence of a sufficient number of transnational entrepreneurs for quantitative analysis, but biases the sample in their direction.

To compensate for this bias, statistical analyses of the CIEP data weighted referral cases by the proportion that the self-employed represented in the population of working adult heads of households of the relevant nationality in each sampling area. This procedure avoids losing valuable information, while simultaneously preventing biased estimates resulting from different probabilities of selection (Kish, 1967:407-409; Sudman, 1983). The resulting weighted samples can be considered representative of the target immigrant nationalities in their respective areas of concentration. However, selection probabilities vary across these areas because of the unequal size of immigrant communities in each. To adjust for this problem in pooled analyses of the full sample, we developed a second series of weights. These are-the obverse of the sampling fraction, defined as the ratio of the sample to the popuafon of household heads of the target nationality in each area. The 1990 U.S. Cen- sus of Population and Housing provided the necessary information to com- pute these sampling fractions (Frankel, 1983; Sudman, 1983).

Table 1 presents the samples, relevant populations, sampling fractions, and rates of self-employment (to weight the referral stratum of entrepreneurs). The adjusted sample can be considered representative of 187,228 Colombian, Dominican and Salvadoran households in five different areas of concentration. These nationalities were selected, in part, because of their size, as each is estimated to number over one million persons at present and to represent, jointly, close to one fifth of all Latin American immigrants in the United States (Farley, 2001; Landolt, 2001; Portes and Guarnizo, 1991; Guarnizo et al, 1999). More importantly, the contexts of exit and reception of these groups are quite distinct, despite their common cultural and linguis- tic origins. This allows us to examine how these macro-social variables - conditions in the home country and modes of incorporation to the host society - affect the onset and character of transnationalism.

The following tables present a summary of results drawn from the CIEP sample based mostly on its weighted version. Sources are indicated where

881


TABLE 1 DISTRIBUTION OF THE CIEP SAMPLE BY

NATIONAL ORIGIN, AREA, AND TYPE OF ECONOMIC ACTIVITY

Number of Cases Sampling Percent Self- National Origin and Fraction employed, Study Site Sample Population % 1990 Census Colombians:

Queens, New York 311 26,750 1.16 8.0 Dominicans:

Providence, Rhode Island 159 2,296 6.92 4.0 Washington Heights,

New York City 259 88,930 0.29 7.8 Subtotal 418 91,226 - 7.7a

Salvadorans: Los Angeles, California 240 57,076 0.42 7.4 Washington, DC 233 12,176 1.91 5.3 Subtotal 473 69,252 - 7.0a

Total 1,202 187,228 0.64 7.5 Note: "Weighted average by population of adult heads of the relevant nationality in each site.

appropriate. Table 2 shows the extent of economic, political and sociocultural transnationalism among the three immigrant nationalities. The table includes figures corresponding to a "broad" definition of the concept which includes both regular and occasional activities, and a "strict" definition based on regular participation only. In the economic field, transnational entrepreneurs are limited to self-employed individuals who responded in the affirma- tive to one of the following questions: * "The success of my firm depends on regular contact with foreign coun-

tries." * "The success of my firm depends on regular contact with Colom-

bia/Dominican Republic/El Salvador" (according to respondent's country of origin).

Thus defined, transnational entrepreneurs represent a small minority of the weighted sample, not exceeding 6 percent in any case. The figure stands in sharp contrast with descriptions in the ethnographic literature that some- times make it appear as if transnational ventures had become the main form of economic adaptation among contemporary immigrants. Note, however, that transnationals do represent a large proportion of all self-employed persons in these communities. Thus, to the extent that immigrants become entrepreneurs, a significant number will do so by relying on their contacts abroad, particularly with their own home nations.

The same general conclusion obtains when we consider political or sociocultural activities. Regular cross-border political activists are a small minority, not exceeding 10 percent in the full weighted sample and 15 per-

882

THEORETICAL CONVERGENCIES AND EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE 883

TABLE

2

TRANSNATIONAL

AcrVITIES

IN THREE

IMMIGRANT

COMMUNITIES

IN THE

UNITED

STATES

Regular

Involvement

At Least

Occasional

Involvementa

Colombian

Dominican

Salvadoran

Total

Colombian

Dominican

Salvadoran

Total

Activity

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

%

Economic Transnational

Entrepreneurs

4.3

4.8

5.3

5.1

Transnational

Entrepreneurs

as Percent

of Self-employed

37.5

52.5

76.2

57.9

-

-

-

-

Political Member

of Home

Country

Political

Party

10.0

12.6

7.6

9.9

18.7

22.8

14.3

18.3

Gives

Money

to Home

Country

Political

Party

2.3

10.8

5.6

7.2

5.1

15.8

9.8

11.5

Takes

Part

in Home

Country

Political

3.2

12.4

5.2

7.7

10.6

18.8

10.7

13.8

Campaigns

and

Rallies

Socio-Culturalb Member

of a

Hometown

Civic

Association

7.1

9.6

19.3

13.7

18.0

19.9

37.5

27.7

Gives

Money

for Community

Projects

in

6.1

8.5

12.8

10.1

18.7

18.4

33.6

25.4

Home

Country

Member

of a

Charity

Association

in

13.2

6.4

21.5

14.3

29.9

21.6

40.3

31.4

Home

Country

Travels

to Attend

Public

Festivities

in

3.5

7.6

5.8

6.2

13.5

19.5

16.2

17.1

Home

Country

Participates

in Local

Sports

Clubs

with

links

5.5

9.7

7.6

8.1

10.0

18.9

19.7

17.9

to Home

Count

Source:

CIEP

weighted

sample.

Notes:

aIncludes

both

regular

and

occasional

involvement.

bThe

first

three

activities

included

in this category

can also

be conceptualized

as political

at the local

level,

insofar

as they

involve

interaction

and

influence

on local

authorities

and

events

(see Guarnizo

et. al., 2002).


cent among the immigrant group most oriented toward this kind of participation (Dominicans). While occasional participation is more common, it again fails to exceed one fifth of the sample in almost all instances. Engage- ment in civic activities is slightly more common, especially among Salvado- rans but, in the full sample, only one third has participated at least occasionally.

Taken as a whole, these results indicate that transnationalism is not the normative or dominant mode of adaptation of these immigrant groups. Most of their members appear to pursue lives in their new country in relative obliv- ion of those that they left behind. To this extent, the "canonical" position in immigration theory emphasizing the assimilation of migrants to the host society is supported. In addition, the recognition that transnationalism is not a universal phenomenon must be extended to acknowledge that, among some immigrants at least, it is nearly absent.

The data do show that transnational activities are real, that a core of committed transnational entrepreneurs and activists exists, and that a sizable minority of immigrants becomes engaged at least occasionally. In addition, results presented in Table 3 add an important qualification to too swift an acceptance of assimilationist tenets on the basis of simple frequency distribu- tions. This table summarizes findings on the determinants of economic, political and sociocultural transnationalism. In the case of the first two, the analysis focuses on regular, sustained participation; in the case of sociocultural transnationalism, it incorporates both regular and occasional engagement. The methods of analysis also differ. In the case of economic activities, pre- dictive effects are indicated by binomial logistic coefficients and associated probabilities; in the case of political engagement, they come from negative binomial regressions (NBR) and associated percent changes in the count of regular transnational participation; for sociocultural transnationalism, effects on a composite index of regular and occasional participation are given by coefficients from an ordered logit regression.

Despite these differences, there is significant convergence in what results tell us about determinants of the phenomenon. A conventional assimilation perspective leads to the expectation that transnational activities will be transitional and associated with the more recent and marginal sectors of an immigrant community - the less educated and more downwardly mobile. These are the individuals who would have every incentive to maintain regular ties with their home countries. The evidence indicates the contrary: regardless of the activity considered, more-educated immigrants are the more likely to par-

884


TABLE 3 DETERMINANTS OF TRANSNATIONALISM AMONG LATIN AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS

IN THE UNITED STATES, 1998

Economic (Transnational Political Socio-

Predictorsa Entrepreneurs)b (Strict Definition)c cultural'

Coefficient pe Coefficient % Change' Coefficient Demographic

Age .013 .101' 10.6 -.008

Age Squared - - -.0011 -0.1

Sex (Male) 1.035" .08 1.209k 235.3 .697'

Marital Status .440m .03 .1181 12.6

Number of Children -.049 - - .1201

Human Capital Education (Years) .114" .01 - - .4021 High School Graduate - - 1.003m 172.7 College Graduate - - .324' 38.3

Professional/ Executive Background 1.191" .10 - - .375

Assimilation Years of U.S. Residence .036k .003 .034" 3.5 .0181 U.S. Citizenship - - -.041 - .141

Experienced Discrimination in U.S. .308 - - - .287k

Downward Mobilityt .402' -.03 -.058 Social Networks

Size .111" .01 .095" 10.0 Scopeh .226 - -.084 Expected to Return - - .440" 55.3 .303k

Nationality' Colombian -1.519" -.05 -1.212" -70.2

Dominican - - - - .6611

Salvadoran 1.097" .09 -.018 - .920'

Constant -6.235 -5.813

Pseudo R2 .256 .104 .167

Notes: 'Predictors not included in each regression are indicated by a hyphen in the column marked "coefficient." Some predictors of the regression of sociocultural transnationalism are omitted. bLogistic regression of the log-odds of transnational entrepreneurship. Source: Portes et al., 2002. 'Negative binomial regression of the number of political activities, electoral and civic, in which respondents are involved on a regular basis. Source: Guarnizo et al, 2002. dOrdered logit regression of an additive index of occasional or regular participation in the set of sociocultural activities listed in Table 2. Regular participation in the first three of these activities is also included in the definition of political transnationalism. CIEP unweighted sample. Source: Itzigsohn and Saucedo, 2002. 'Increase/decrease in the net probability of economic transnationalism associated with a unit increase in each predictor. Nonsignificant effects are omitted. Increase/decrease in the percent of regular transnational political activities in which respondents engage associated with a unit increase in each predictor. Nonsignificant effects are omitted. gRatio of last country occupation to first occupation in the United States, both coded along a 5-point hierar- chical scale. hRatio of nonlocal to local ties in respondent's city of residence. 'Reference nationality is indicated by a hyphen in the column labeled "Coefficient." For regressions of economic and political transnationalism, Dominican is the reference category. For regression of sociocultural transnationalism, Colombian is the reference category. 'p<.10

kp<.05 'p<.01 "p<.001

885


ticipate. Every year of education increases the probability of transnational entrepreneurship by 1 percent and a high school diploma leads to a 173 percent increase in the count of regular transnational political activities.

More telling still are the effects of variables conventionally associated with assimilation. The acquisition of U.S. citizenship does not significantly reduce transnational participation and years of residence in the'United States increase it. For example, every additional year in the United States leads to a 3.5 percent rise in the count of regular transnational political activities. Along the same lines, downward occupational mobility has no effect on political transnationalism and actually reduces the probability of becoming a transnational entrepreneur. Transnational activities therefore are not the preserve of the poor and marginalized, but are consistently associated with higher human capital resources: more education, more years of U.S. experience, higher occupational status.

Other coefficients in Table 3 complete the picture concerning determinants of transnationalism. They indicate that, overwhelmingly, these activities are pursued by married men. Gender by itself has a decisive influence, with males being much more represented among transnational entrepreneurs and transnational political and social activists. Immigrant males exceed female participation in cross-border political activities by 200 percent. This dominance is supplemented by marital status, as indicated by the strong pos- itive coefficients of marriage and number of children on different forms of transnationalism.

Finally, besides human capital, social capital also plays a significant role in the process. Better networked immigrants are much more likely to become transnational activists. Each additional social tie increases the probability of transnational entrepreneurship by 1 percent and the count of regular transnational political activities by 10 percent. Interestingly, it is not the kind of social ties, but their absolute number that plays a dominant role. It does not matter much whether immigrant networks are local or extra-local; what mat- ters for cross-border activities is their size. These results are supplemented by the finding that immigrants who are expected to return home by kin and friends are significantly more likely to take part in political and sociocultural pursuits in their country of origin.

With this large array of predictors controlled, there are still major differences among the three immigrant nationalities in the CIEP study. Using Dominicans as the reference category, we find that Salvadorans are significantly more likely to become transnational entrepreneurs and Colombians

886


much less likely to do so. Dominicans and Salvadorans do not differ greatly in the overall count of cross-border political activities in which they engage, but both groups are much more likely to participate than Colombians. With the latter group as reference, both Dominicans and Salvadorans display a significantly greater propensity to support sociocultural initiatives linking them to their homeland.

These differences accord with the known contexts of exit and reception of the three groups. This agreement has been explained in detail elsewhere (Portes et al., 2002; Landolt, 2001; Guarnizo et al., 2003; Itzigsohn and Saucedo, 2002). For our purposes, the important point is that these findings support the theoretical consensus on the fundamental heterogeneity of immigrant transnationalism. This consensus pertains mainly to the forms that the phenomenon takes; results from their study extend it by indicating that its sources are also heterogeneous, varying systematically with national origins.

Overall, these findings offer a sober reality lesson not only to advocates of conventional assimilation theory, but also to those authors who have seen in transnationalism a powerful new tool in the hand of the global poor and disenfranchised. While our results do show that experiences of discrimination in the host society significantly increase some forms of transnationalism and while other results indicate that these activities can improve the lot of poor families at home, the present evidence shows unambiguously that the migrants most involved in cross-border initiatives are not the most exploited or marginalized. On the contrary, transnationalism in its different forms emerges from the analysis as mainly the pursuit of solid family men - educated, well-connected and firmly established in the host country. They, rather than the recently arrived and the downwardly mobile, organize cross-border enterprises; support political parties and civic committees in their countries; and lead the cultural festivities, sports and religious events linking each migrant diaspora with its respective nation.

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

Despite the limited involvement of immigrants in the transnational field, continuing research on the topic is advisable for three reasons. First, the exis- tence of this field creates an alternative path of socioeconomic and political adaptation to the host society not envisioned by traditional models of assimilation. As the empirical evidence presented shows, it is not the case that assimilation and transnationalism are at odds since it is often the better established and more secure immigrants who engage in these activities. Instead,

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transnational enterprise and political activism may offer novel forms of simul- taneous integration into the host society with renewed involvement into the country and community of origin. In some instances, as in the case of successful transnational firms, these activities can support rather than stall the successful adaptation of immigrants and their offspring to their new country (Portes et al., 2002).

Second, cross-border initiatives, even when enacted occasionally, are of great importance to the development of home nations. As Guarnizo emphasizes in his contribution to this issue, remittances and migrant investments are no longer a marginal phenomenon, but have become one of the pillars of the financial stability and prospects for development of sending countries. The significant impact that the remittances and contributions of expatriates can make to the development of local communities has been well-documented in field studies in El Salvador (Landolt, 2001); Brazil (Levitt, 2001); Mexico (Fitzger- ald, 2000); and Eritrea (Al-Ali et al., 2001), among other countries.

Third, the ramifications of the phenomenon and the forms that it can take in different countries are not yet fully understood. As the article by Levitt in this issue shows, the field of transnationalism is not composed exclusively of economic and political transactions. Religion plays a decisive role in many cases, and the extent of its presence and impact in host and sending nations stands in need of additional investigation (Levitt, 2003). The study of other forms of transnational linkages involving cultural movements, professional/sci- entific ties, the arts and sports is still in its infancy. As for cross-national variations, the finding that three immigrant groups as linguistically and culturally close as Colombians, Dominicans and Salvadorans differ so greatly in the extent and character of their transnational lives provides grounds for anticipating much wider variations in this phenomenon worldwide.

As already noted, the study of transnationalism has been based mostly on ethnographic studies. While the case study method has merits, including the capacity to uncover realities beneath appearances and to provide rich descriptions of particular social phenomena, it also has limitations. There is a need for additional comparative and quantitative studies of transnationalism based on surveys or aggregate official statistics for three reasons. The first is to place the phenomenon in perspective by ascertaining its true dimensions. Fig- ures on the absolute and relative size of remittances summarized by Guarni- zo (2003) gives us an authoritative notion about the weight of these transfers. Similarly, the analysis of CIEP data provides a first reliable estimate about the true number of immigrants involved in these activities.

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Second, comparative quantitative studies are necessary to test hypothe- ses about determinants, forms and consequences of transnationalism. The theoretical concepts discussed by Vertovec (2003) as relevant to the study of

the phenomenon, such as embeddedness, social networks and social capital,

have been illustrated in a number of case studies. Yet, ethnographic evidence does not suffice to establish the true causal significance of these concepts in general or in specific national instances. For example, what is the role of social capital in the onset of transnational entrepreneurship once age, gender and education have been taken into account? Or what is the significance of social networks for the organization of effective hometown assistance programs once we control for geographic distance and the political context of the sending countries? Again, results summarized above provide evidence bearing on these questions, but much additional investigation is necessary.

Third, longitudinal data are required to examine the crucial issue of

generational transmissibility. Is transnationalism mostly or exclusively a first generation phenomenon, or can children of immigrants be expected to participate in large numbers? Several options suggest themselves - from the per- petuation of the transnational field across generations to the instrumental use of these activities to facilitate the successful integration of second generation youths into the host society. Anecdotal evidence on each of these options already exists but, in the absence of more representative longitudinal studies, little can be said authoritatively about their significance.

In the end, a combination of methods - ranging from the analysis of existing official and census data, to longitudinal surveys, to ethnographic

work - offers the best promise of moving the study of transnationalism for- ward. Past research has shown convincingly that immigrant transnationalism exists and that it can adopt multiple forms. It has also led to the series of convergencies noted at the start of this article. To move beyond this plateau and to have a durable influence both on development policy and on social science theory, a methodologically more diversified approach will be needed in years to come.

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Documents

Conclusion Theoretical Convergencies and Empirical Evidence in the Study of Immigrant Transnational Ism