Transnational Social Fields: A Bourdieusian Perspective against Territorial Trap

Abstract

Transnational phenomena, like the movement of people, goods, and information, have arisen from the global shift and led to intense mobility across national and territorial borders. The social capital and resources gained through social interactions and social networks like family, friends, and occupational associations bridge physical boundaries and link people from different regions. This study focuses on how different types of capital, with a specific focus on social capital and networks, shape transnational social fields and investigates how the territorial trap can be overcome when analyzing transnational social fields. The main objective is to demonstrate how social capital influences transnational communities by criticizing traditional ideas based solely on regional proximity. The study focuses on a theoretical examination of Pierre Bourdieu’s concepts of field, capital, and habitus in the axis of transnational social fields. In conclusion, it is argued that incorporating Bourdieu’s concepts into the conceptualization of transnational social fields could help transcend the limitations of the territorial trap.

Keywords

• Territorial trap
• transnational social field
• capital
• habitus

References

1. Agnew, J. (1994). The territorial trap: The geographical assumptions of international relations theory. Review of International Political Economy, 1(1), 53-80. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692299408434268
2. Anthias, F. (2008). Thinking through the lens of translocational positionality: an intersectionality frame for understanding identity and belonging. Translocations: Migration and Social Change, 4(1), 5-20. 2009- 0420.
3. Bagnoli, A. (2007). Between outcast and outsider: Constructing the identity of the foreigner. European Societies, 9(1), 23-44. https://doi.org/10.1080/14616690601079424
4. Bauböck, R. (2000). Political community beyond the sovereign state: supranational federalism and transnational minorities. Austrian Acad. of Sciences, Research Unit for Inst. Change and European Integration, IWE.
5. Beck, U. (2015). What is globalization? John Wiley & Sons.
6. Berlin, I. (1998). Nationalism: Past neglect, present power. In H. Hardy & Hausheer, R. (Eds.), The proper study of mankind: an anthology of essays. Pimlico.
7. Bigo, D. (2020). Adjusting a Bourdieusian approach to the study of transnational fields: Transversal practices and state (trans)formations related to intelligence and surveillance. In C. Schmidt-Wellenburg & Bernhard, S. (Eds.), Charting transnational fields (pp. 55-78). Routledge.
8. Bilecen, B., & Sienkiewicz, J. J. (2015). Informal social protection networks of migrants: Typical patterns in different transnational social spaces. Population, Space and Place, 21(3), 227-243. https://doi.org/10.1002/ psp.1906

9. Bojarczuk, S., & Mühlau, P. (2018). Mobilising social network support for childcare: The case of Polish migrant mothers in Dublin. Social Networks, 53, 101-110. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2017.04.004
10. Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Eds.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.
11. Bourdieu, P. (1990). The logic of practice. Stanford University Press.
12. Bourdieu, P., & Wacquant, L. J. (1992). An invitation to reflexive sociology. University of Chicago Press
13. Bourdieu, P., Wacquant L. J., & Farage, S. (1994). Rethinking the state: Genesis and structure of the bureaucratic field. Sociological Theory, 12(1), 1–18. https://doi.org/10.2307/202032
14. Cachia, R., & Jariego, I. M. (2018). Mobility types, transnational ties and personal networks in four highly skilled immigrant communities in Seville (Spain). Social Networks, 53, 111-124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. socnet.2017.03.014
15. Cohen, R. (2016). Migration and its enemies: global capital, migrant labour and the nation-state. Routledge.
16. Çağlar, A. (2016). Transnational migration. In A. Triandafyllidou (Eds.), Routledge handbook of immigration and refugee studies (pp. 64-71). Routledge.
17. Delanty, G. (2000). Citizenship in a global age. McGraw-Hill Education.
18. Emirbayer, M., & Mische, A. (1998). What is agency?. American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), 962-1023. https:// doi.org/10.1086/231294
19. Faist, T., & Bilecen, B. (2015). Social inequalities through the lens of social protection: Notes on the transnational social question. Population, Space and Place, 21(3), 282-293. https://doi.org/10.1002/psp.1879
20. Gargano, T. (2009). (Re)conceptualizing international student mobility: The potential of transnational social fields. Journal of Studies in International Education, 13(3), 331-346. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315308322060
21. Golob, T. (2014). Exploring identifications in the transnational social sphere: The potential of social fields. Sociology & Space/Sociologija i Prostor, 52(2), 123-139. https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.52.2.1
22. Granovetter, M. (1983). The strength of weak ties: A network theory revisited. Sociological Theory, 1, 201-233. https://doi.org/10.2307/202051
23. Guarnizo, L. E. (1997). The emergence of a transnational social formation and the mirage of return migration among Dominican transmigrants. Identities Global Studies in Culture and Power, 4(2), 281-322. https://doi. org/10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962591
24. Hall, C. C. I. (1992). Please choose one: Ethnic identity choices for biracial individuals. In M. P. P. Root (Ed.), Racially mixed people in America (pp. 250–264). Sage Publications, Inc.
25. Herz, A. (2015). Relational constitution of social support in migrants transnational personal communities. Social Networks, 40, 64–74. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socnet.2014.08.001
26. Joy, S., Game, A. M., & Toshniwal, I. G. (2020). Applying Bourdieu’s capital-field-habitus framework to migrant careers: Taking stock and adding a transnational perspective. The International Journal of Human Resource Management, 31(20), 2541-2564 https://doi.org/10.1080/09585192.2018.1454490
27. Kelly, P., & Lusis, T. (2006). Migration and the transnational habitus: Evidence from Canada and the Philippines. Environment and Planning A, 38(5), 831–847. https://doi.org/10.1068/a37214
28. Kornienko, O., Agadjanian, V., Menjívar, C., & Zotova, N. (2018). Financial and emotional support in close personal ties among Central Asian migrant women in Russia. Social Networks, 53, 125-135. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. socnet.2017.04.006
29. Lash, S. M., & Urry, J. (1993). Economies of signs and space. Sage.
30. Levitt, P., & Schiller, N. G. (2004). Conceptualizing simultaneity: A transnational social field perspective on society. International Migration Review, 38(3), 1002-1039. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004. tb00227.x
31. Portes, A. (2001). Introduction: the debates and significance of immigrant transnationalism. Global Networks, 1(3), 181-194. https://doi.org/10.1111/1471-0374.00012open_in_new
32. Rapport, N., & Dawson, A. (1998). Migrants of identity: Perceptions of home in a world of movement. Berg.
33. Rouse, R. (1992). Making sense of settlement: class transformation, cultural struggle, and transnationalism among Mexican migrants in the United States. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 645(1), 25- 52. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-6632.1992.tb33485.xopen_in_new
34. Lubbers, M. J., Molina, J. L., Lerner, J., Brandes, U., Ávila, J., & McCarty, C. (2010). Longitudinal analysis of personal networks. The case of Argentinean migrants in Spain. Social Networks, 32(1), 91-104. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.socnet.2009.05.001
35. Lubbers, M. J., Verdery, A. M., & Molina, J. L. (2020). Social networks and transnational social fields: A review of quantitative and mixed-methods approaches. International Migration Review, 54(1), 177-204. https://doi. org/10.1177/0197918318812343
36. Schiller, N. G. (1997). The situation of transnational studies. Global Studies in Culture and Power, 4(2), 155-166. https://doi.org/10.1080/1070289X.1997.9962587
37. Schiller, N. G. (2010). A global perspective on transnational migration: Theorizing migration without methodological nationalism. In T. Faist & Bauböck, R. (Eds.), Diaspora and transnationalism: Concepts, theories, and methods (pp. 110-129). Amsterdam University Press.
38. Stone, W. (2001). Measuring social capital. Australian Institute of Family Studies, Research Paper, 24.
39. Vacca, R., Solano, G., Lubbers, M. J., Molina, J. L., & McCarty, C. (2018). A personal network approach to the study of immigrant structural assimilation and transnationalism. Social Networks, 53, 72-89. https://doi. org/10.1016/j.socnet.2016.08.007
40. Vertovec, S. (2007). Super-diversity and its implications. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30(6), 1024-1054. https:// doi.org/10.1080/01419870701599465
41. Cox, R. W. (2000). Social forces, states and world orders: Beyond international relations theory. In A. Linklater (Eds.), International relations: Critical concepts in political science (pp. 1537-1571). Routledge.
42. Weiss, A. (2005). The transnationalization of social inequality: Conceptualizing social positions on a world scale. Current Sociology, 53(4), 707–728. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011392105052722
43. Wimmer, A., & Schiller, N. G. (2003). Methodological nationalism, the social sciences, and the study of migration: An essay in historical epistemology. International Migration Review, 37(3), 576–610. https:// doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2003.tb00151.x