Network Mobility: An Analysis of the Interrelationship Between Social Mobility and Social Capital for Transnational Households of Brazilian Origin

Abstract

This article seeks to analyze the role that the assets derived from the participation of the migrant population of Brazilian origin in social networks play in the definition of their social mobility strategies. To this end, this investigation addresses the effect of the composition and nature of transnational networks – in which transnational families participate in a migration process that has Spain as the main destination – on their position in the social hierarchy. Based on a qualitative methodology built through the application of a multi-localized ethnography with Galicia and Catalonia as recipient contexts, fieldwork was carried out with several transnational households originating in Brazil, interviewing different members of the domestic group from 2011 to 2018. The main results show the importance of transnational networks within the scope of spatial and social mobility projects for the migrant population.