Abstract
This chapter explores the links between transnationalism and immigrant assimilation in France. We use the Trajectories and Origins survey (TeO), a new dataset that provides extensive information on a wide range of links (social, economic, political and symbolic) that exist between people living in metropolitan France and other regions of the world. The sample offers a unique opportunity to compare immigrants’ transnational attitudes with those of the others groups. We test the hypothesis of an intergenerational process of assimilation and explore the role of family transmission in maintaining transnationalism across generations. We also study the extent to which transnational practices are associated with economic success and/or the experience of racism, discrimination or stigmatisation in France.
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Notes
- 1.
In this chapter the notion of integration is approached through a set of indicators measuring various dimensions of individuals’ integration in society. Some are objective measures of socioeconomic position (level of education, occupational category) or residential situation (living in a sensitive urban area). Others are based on self-reported experience of exclusion (exposure to discrimination or racism), or subjective measures relative to respondents’ national identity (feeling “French”, sense of belonging in France versus another country).
- 2.
The TeO survey methodology is presented in an Appendix at the end of the book.
- 3.
- 4.
Some critics claim that the concept of transnationalism does not apply to the second generation: declining competence in the home language, no wish to return to their parents’ country, etc. (Alba and Nee 2003; Kasisnitz et al. 2002). Waters and Jimenez challenge this putative divide between first and second generations (Waters and Jimenez 2005).
- 5.
For linguistic convenience, we include in our definition of “transnational” all economic, social, political, and symbolic practices that link individuals living in metropolitan France to places beyond its borders, including overseas départements (DOMs), even though in this case the links do not in fact reach outside the national borders of France. It is precisely this extension of the usage of the term “transnational” that allows us to examine the extent to which the practices of immigrants (who have changed countries) differ from those of migrants (who have not).
- 6.
Apart from detailed results given in Appendices 1 to 5 and 7 at teo.site.ined.fr/annexes
- 7.
The construction of this overall score simplifies the information contained in the survey, insofar as the possible answers proposed to the respondents consisted generally not of a simple yes/no dichotomy, but rather a more nuanced set of options, such as “Often/Sometimes/Never”, “A great deal/Somewhat/A little/Not at all” with, in addition, the option of not responding or responding “Don’t know”. To simplify the reading of the text, all “Never”, “Not at all”, and “Don’t know” responses, as well as refusals to respond, were classified as “No” responses.
- 8.
The “stays” variable does not provide information on the duration of these stays. They may consist of short visits (vacations) or of longer periods. In all cases, the responses reflect temporary returns, since the respondents were living in metropolitan France at the time of the survey.
- 9.
The full results of all logistic regressions for each type of transnational practice can be found in Appendices 3 and 4 (at teo.site.ined.fr/annexes).
- 10.
This hypothesis has rarely been tested, as most analyses focus on the effect of duration of residence in the host country – with highly variable results (Carling 2008). We do not test the impact of this variable in our models.
- 11.
Appendix 4, at teo.site.ined.fr/annexes
- 12.
Ibid.
- 13.
Appendices 3 and 4 at teo.site. ined.fr/annexes
- 14.
Ibid.
- 15.
The reference group for the models in Appendices 3 and 4, at teo.site.ined.fr/annexes
- 16.
This type of investment remains very rare, however: it concerns only 2–3% of sub-Saharan immigrants (Appendix 2, at teo.site.ined.fr/annexes), a result that indicates that immigrants are far from systematically the investors upon which the success of co-development policies depends.
- 17.
Investment in bricks and mortar has the advantage of being progressive (construction often extends over periods of years), facilitating visits to the country by providing a place to stay and paving the way for a permanent return (a desire shared by many immigrants), while giving migrants social prestige in their society of origin (De Villanova et al. 1994). But investment in real-estate can also be an economic strategy: land and property are highly profitable domains in Southern cities, and migrants play a major role in price speculation (Tall 1994). Moreover, this area of investment requires less expertise and physical presence than a business venture.
- 18.
The specific effect of the distance between France and the countries of origin was tested in separate models (not shown here). It is significantly negative: the more distant the country, the lower the level of transnationalism.
- 19.
Note, however, that intergenerational transmission cannot be directly tested in TeO (the descendants of immigrants who responded to the survey are not the children of the immigrant respondents). To analyse transmission directly, it would have been necessary to pose questions on the transnational practices of migrants and their descendants within the same family. Nonetheless, supposing that the differences observed in the transnational practices of different origin groups are relatively stable over time, transmission can be proposed as a hypothesis to explain the similarity between migrants and their descendants in the effect of country of origin on transnational practices. (For example, Sahelian African immigrants are the most transnational within the generation of immigrants, and the descendants of Sahelian Africans are also the most transnational within the generation of descendants.)
- 20.
We used the same procedure for the descendants of immigrants as for immigrants. To distinguish the specific effects of origin on transnational practices and isolate the influence of socioeconomic or sociodemographic variables, we performed a series of analyses, estimating a logistic model for each of the 11 transnational practices, and performing a linear regression on the overall transnationalism score. Table 13.3 presents the results of the linear regressions on the overall score. The full results of all of the logistic regressions performed for each of the transnational practices can be found in Appendix 3 (at teo.site.ined.fr/annexes).
- 21.
The detailed results are presented in Appendix 5, at teo.site.ined.fr/annexes
- 22.
Appendix 5, at teo.site.ined.fr/ annexes
- 23.
Appendix 2, at teo.site.ined.fr/annexes
- 24.
- 25.
While spoken native language is typically a received characteristic, level of mastery (“What is your level in...?”) is a performance indicator. On linguistic practices, see Chap. 10.
- 26.
This is an administrative label for areas targeted for support through public policies, and which are also thereby stigmatized.
- 27.
Concerning these variables, see Chap. 11 of this volume.
- 28.
Result drawn from a series of models separately testing the effect of discrimination on each of the origin groups (detailed results not shown).
- 29.
It may be, however, that the effect of this variable is decreased by the precision of its dating: the question concerns place of residence at the time of the survey, whereas the factors that most favour transnational practices are built up over time (relationship with the parents’ culture of origin, racism experienced over the life course, etc.).
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Beauchemin, C., Lagrange, H., Safi, M. (2018). Transnational Links and Integration: Between Here and There. In: Beauchemin, C., Hamel, C., Simon, P. (eds) Trajectories and Origins: Survey on the Diversity of the French Population. INED Population Studies, vol 8. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76638-6_13
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