Social Mobility of Migrants in Chile

The project “Successful trajectories of social mobility in contemporary Chile: Individual, territorial and structural dynamics in tackling wealth inequality” seeks to understand the ways in which communities, groups and individuals access and negotiate their positions of power and access to resources to which they usually do not have access.

In a context where studies on social mobility tend to focus on the national population, we zoom in on the migrant population in Chile. Based on 40 interviews with migrants in Chile, we reflect on their social mobility processes. The preliminary results reveal key aspects to understand the limitations of mobility when we are in populations that are stigmatized and discriminated against.

First, people face barriers inherent to their migratory situation that hinder the process of social mobility and put their civil, social and cultural rights at risk within the destination societies. These barriers are linked to difficulties in regularizing the migratory situation, recognition of titles and difficulties in accessing bank loans.

Second, the social and cultural capital that migrants bring with them does not have the same validity, recognition and legitimacy at their destination. This forces them to reconstruct a trajectory marked by the tension between their own expectations of growth and development and the stigmatizations that arise from the local/national context.

Third, being a migrant can lead to racialization processes that prevent recognition as an equal within the social structure. This introduces elements of structural inequality that limit their mobility.