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52 Int'l Migration Rev. 4 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/imgratv52 and id is 1 raw text is: 


        IMR                                         OSAGE



Remittances for Collective

Consumption and Social Status

Compensation: Variations on

Transnational Practices among

Chinese International Migrants'


Min  Zhou
Nanyang  Technological University
University of California, Los Angeles

Xiangyi Li
Sun Yat-sen University

    This paper focuses on a special type of remittances - monetary remit-
    tances sent by international migrants to their hometowns to build sym-
    bolic structures and cultural facilities for collective consumption. We
    develop  an  analytical framework to  examine  the  motives  behind
    migrants' remitting behavior and the mechanisms   for realizing their
    remitting objectives based on a comparative  study of two  emigrant
    groups from China. We  find that the sending of remittances for collec-
    tive consumption serves as a unique mechanism for social status compen-
    sation. Such behavior is not only affected by migrants' socioeconomic
    circumstances or government policies, but also by intersecting contextual
    and institutional factors at multiple levels transnationally.


'This study was supported by a faculty research grant (No. M4081238) from the School
of Humanities and Social Sciences, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore; the
Walter and Shirley Wang Endowed Chair's fund, University of California, Los Angeles;
the Chang Jiang Scholar Chair Professorship, Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China; the
2013 Guangdong Province Philosophy and Social Sciences Youth Project, entitled The
Study of Segmented Assimilation Patterns among Chinese Returned Migrants (No.
GD13YHQO1),  China; and the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities,
SYSU, China. The original version of the article was presented at the international confer-
ence on New  Horizons of Diasporic Chinese Studies: Evolving Themes, Changing
Frameworks, Future Directions, March 21-22, 2014, Nanyang Technological University,
Singapore. The authors thank Alejandro Portes, Hasan Mahmud, Ning Wang, and IMR
anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions.

c 2016 by the Center for Migration Studies of New York. All rights reserved.
DOI: 10.1111/imre.12268


4  IMR  Volume 52 Number  1 (Spring 2018):4-42

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