Insufficient Funds: The Culture of Money in Low-Wage Transnational Families

Abstract

Examines money and migration among transnational families in the Vietnamese diaspora, focusing on families of low-wage immigrants in the United States and their relatives in Vietnam. Discusses six tales of migrant money--giving, receiving, and spending; the making of a transnational expenditure cascade; money as a currency of care; the migrant provider role; the American dream in Vietnam; compensatory consumption; emulative consumption; the cyclical entrenchment of monetary habits; the high price of esteem consumption; tall promises--problems associated with unfulfilled promises made by migrants; and special money in low-wage transnational families. Thai is Associate Professor of Sociology and Asian American Studies and Director of the Pacific Basic Institute at Pomona College. Bibliography; index.