Estrategias de movilidad social: el desarrollo de redes para el progreso personal.

Abstract

In this article, I examine the social networks of low-income Latin-American immigrant women living in public housing in the city of Boston, using a conceptual framework that differentiates social networks that offer support from those that yield leverage. This ethnographic analysis of participant observation and longitudinal ethnographic interviews carried over 4 years pays particular attention to how respondents generate social capital to obtain resources for social mobility. While heterogeneity in social networks emerged as the most significant factor in social mobility, findings suggest that leverage ties work more effectively to create opportunities when they act as bridges connecting the women to networks in higher levels of the social structure, and when the women have support towards advancement within their strong ties. Conversely, patriarchal family dynamics were the most significant factors preventing the formation and operation of mobility networks and leaving the women stagnated in survival. At a more general level, the longitudinal ethnographic nature of this study sheds light on the conditions affecting the mobility prospects of women who are members of the largest minority group in the United States but of whom little is known.

Keywords

• Social mobility
• poverty
• immigrant women
• social networks
• social support
• social leverage.