Reproductive and Productive Social Mobility Strategies of Latin American Migrant Families in Spain

The general aim of this paper is to study the transnational social mobility strategies, focusing in the interaction between reproductive and productive strategies, of Latin-American migrant families in Spain, in a context of economic crisis. We will look into the way households negotiate family social mobility strategies, by analyzing the actions individuals choose in order to climb social ladders, as well as the series of personal and collective itineraries they undertake within the social hierarchy and the transnational social space. Our analysis will be based on an inter-generational and gender perspective. What is the impact of migrants’ transnational reproductive and productive strategies on their social mobility trajectories? And on those of their children? How do they differ in terms of gender? Do some transnational strategies represent social stagnation for some household members, yet revert on the other ones in the form of upward social mobility? We will analyze the articulation of reproductive, economic, affective and social practices of immigrants, and how this articulation determines the social mobility of households and the gender relations. The methodology is based on in-depth interviews and family life stories. The fieldwork was conducted in Madrid, Galicia and Barcelona (Spain), including different communities (Brazilian, Ecuadorian migrants), as well as in some of the migrants’ countries of origin (Equator and Argentina) in the framework of the Research Project “Gender, Transnationalism and Inter-generational Social Mobility Strategies” (FEM2011-26210, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Spain).