Varieties of Transnationalism and Its Changing Determinants across Immigrant Generations Evidence from French Data

• Published in: The International migration review Vol. 52; no. 3; pp. 853 - 897
• Main Author: Safi, Mirna
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Sage Publications, Inc 01-09-2018; Wiley
• Subjects: Generation, Immigrant Families, and Contexts of Reception; Humanities and Social Sciences; Sociology; cross-borders activities; generational effect; immigrants; assimilation
• ISSN: 0197-9183; 1747-7379
• DOI: 10.1111/imre.12314

In this article, I use the French Trajectories and Origins survey to describe patterns and trends of cross-border ties across immigrant generations. Transnational activities are measured through a wide range of cross-border ties, grouped into three dimensions: sociopolitical, economic, and a third dimension that I call re-migration. Three sets of determinants are taken into account: variables measuring exposure to the country of origin, variables describing incorporation in the host country, and variables that are specific to each generation. Conversely to the straight-line assimilation paradigm, the findings put the analytical power of the generational variable into perspective by (1) high-lighting the wide variability of transnationalism within each generation and (2) measuring distinct intergenerational trends along different types of cross-border engagement. A thorough investigation of the sources of within-generation heterogeneity emphasizes the explanatory power of state-level, religious, and ethnoracial variables.