TY - JOUR T1 - Social Remittances and Social Change in Central and Eastern Europe: Embedding Migration in the Study of Society JF - Central and Eastern European Migration Review Y1 - 2019 A1 - White, Anne A1 - Grabowska, Izabela KW - social remittances; Poland; CEE; migration impact; social change AB -

Our article considers social remittances and social change in Central and Eastern Europe. We show how migration scholarship can be embedded into the wider study of social processes and relations. ‘Social remitting’ sometimes seems to be little more than a slippery catchphrase; however, this article defends the concept. If it is defined carefully and used cautiously, it should help the researcher to think about what, in addition to money, is sent from one society to another and exactly how, thus shedding light on important and insufficiently studied aspects of migration. A close-up view of the processes by which ideas, practices, norms, values and, according to some definitions, social capital and social skills are transferred by migrants across international borders helps researchers to understand more precisely how migration contributes to social change or, in some cases, prevents it from occurring. Our article reviews some of the most interesting arguments and findings presented recently by other scholars and discusses aspects of social remitting which particularly interested us in our own research. The context of our research is social change in Poland: we attempt to understand how migration has contributed to wider patterns of social change since 1989 and exactly how it intertwines with other social trends and globalisation influences. This entails a careful focus on both structural conditions and agency and therefore on social remittances.

VL - 8 CP - 1 EP -

50

U2 -

31 August 2018

U3 -

15 May 2019

U4 -

28 June 2019

SP - 33 ER -