Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market: The Strength of Strong Ties (The New Americans: Recent Immigration and American Society) (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

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The New Americans Recent Immigration and American Society

Edited by Steven J. Gold and Rubén G. Rumbaut

A Series from LFB Scholarly

This page intentionally left blank

Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market

Maria Luisa Amado

LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC New York 2006

Copyright © 2006 by LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Amado, Maria Luisa, 1962Mexican immigrants in the labor market / Maria Luisa Amado. p. cm. -- (The new Americans) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 1-59332-133-3 (alk. paper) 1. Alien labor, Mexican--Georgia--Atlanta. 2. Alien labor, Mexican-Social networks--Georgia--Atlanta. I. Title. II. Series: New Americans (LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC) HD8081.M6A82 2006 331.6'2720758231--dc22 2006009811

ISBN 1-59332-133-3 Printed on acid-free 250-year-life paper. Manufactured in the United States of America.

To those who cross borders and create their path as they walk To my parents, who have crossed a thousand borders


Table of Contents

Introduction............................................................................................1 CHAPTER 1: Mexican Immigrants in the Atlanta Job Market: The Study .........................................................................................7 Mexican Immigrants in the “New South” ........................................7 The Debate: Strong versus Weak Network Ties ..............................9 Y Nosotras, Qué? Engendering Immigrant Networks ....................12 CHAPTER 2: Sociological Perspectives on Networks and Job Seeking...........................................................................................17 Job-Seeking and Network Ties ......................................................17 Strong Ties, Settlement, and Job Seeking Amongst Latin American Immigrants in the U.S..............................................25 Immigrant Women’s Networks: The Salience of Gender in Network Formation and Development .....................................33 CHAPTER 3: Investigating Mexican Immigrants in Atlanta: Field Research and Data Collection ........................................................41 Research Setting and Study Participants ........................................41 Data Collection...............................................................................44 Data Analyses ................................................................................50 CHAPTER 4: Profile of the Informants...............................................53 Socio-Demographic Characteristics ...............................................53 Migration History...........................................................................54 Network Connections Upon Arrival in the Host Society ...............59 CHAPTER 5: Weak and Strong Ties in the Immigrant Network ........63 Redefining Strong and Weak Ties..................................................63 Ties of Paisanaje............................................................................80 “El Coyote” ....................................................................................95 CHAPTER 6: Dónde hay chamba? Looking for a Job in Atlanta ..... 101 Formal Job-Seeking Strategies..................................................... 102 vii

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Table of Contents

Men at Work: Informal Job Seeking Strategies Amongst Male Immigrants.............................................................................. 108 From Braceros to Braceras: Informal Job-Seeking Strategies Amongst Female Immigrants ................................................. 116 CHAPTER 7: The Strength of Strong Ties: Men’s Stories Of Paisanaje...................................................................................... 125 Hermanos Que Dan la Mano: Case Study of an Immigrant Supported by his Paisanos ..................................................... 125 Ties that Bind: Relatives and Friends as Work Links .................. 129 What Matters is Who You Know… ............................................. 135 CHAPTER 8: Los Esquinados: “Free Men” in a Wild Market.......... 139 The Long and Lonely Road: Case Study of an Immigrant Without Network Ties in the U.S. .......................................... 139 Street Corner Sociology: Understanding La Esquina as a Job Market .................................................................................... 143 CHAPTER 9: Marginal Paisanas: Women’s Stories ........................ 149 Unfulfilled Dreams: Case Study of a Woman Who Relied on Weak Ties............................................................................... 149 Bound in the Household and Unbound in the Market .................. 154 Gender Matters............................................................................. 162 CHAPTER 10: Conclusion ................................................................ 171 The Debate: Strong or Weak Ties? .............................................. 171 Who Draws Strength from Strong Ties? The Significance of Gender .................................................................................... 177 Social Networks Revisited ........................................................... 179 Bibliography ...................................................................................... 181 Appendix I ......................................................................................... 189 Interview Guide (Spanish version)............................................... 189 English version............................................................................. 195 Appendix II ........................................................................................ 203 Index .................................................................................................. 205

Introduction

Drawn to the prospect of improving their living conditions and expanding their employment chances, thousands of Mexican men and women enter the labor market in different U.S. cities every year. Many of them are undocumented immigrants who cross the Mexico-United States border circumventing restrictive immigration policies, border patrol vigilance, and anti-immigrant public hostility. North of the Río Grande, survival is not less challenging for those hoping to make a living in a work market segregated along immigration status, ethnic, and gender lines. Under these circumstances, how do recent Mexican immigrants negotiate their entrance into a new community, become economically active, and find jobs? This book examines recent Mexican immigrants’ use of kinship and friendship ties as work links in metropolitan Atlanta, an area that has become a point of attraction for migrant workers in the last decade. The state of Georgia ranked fourth in percentage growth of Latinos(as) in the U.S. in the 1990-2000 decade (U.S. Census Bureau 2002a). Consistent with countrywide trends, people of Mexican origin outnumbered other national categories amongst Georgia’s foreign born. Atlanta’s ethnic and job queues, in particular, have been reshaped in light of the increasing influx of Mexican workers in the past 10 years. In Atlanta area counties, such as Dekalb, people of Mexican origin represent 4.6% of the population, compared to 3.4% of Georgia’s populace (U.S. Census Bureau 2002b). As in other Southern cities, the Mexican community in Atlanta comprises a highly mobile population of migrant workers (CARA, 1996; Engstrom, 2001; Guthey, 2001). Recent and, especially, undocumented immigrants, journey throughout the year between metro Atlanta and its neighboring cities, weathering the uncertainties of unregulated and “unauthorized” employment in a dual labor market. 1

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In this context, I investigate the channels through which job information circulates amongst immigrant workers. Massey’s (1987, 1991) studies about the significance of kinship and friendship in linking “mother” and “daughter” communities in Mexico and the U.S., respectively, are relevant to my central arguments about the usefulness of close-knit networks for recent Mexican immigrants. However, while Massey’s primary focus is on the planning and organization of migration, my aim is to examine the role of kinship and friendship networks in job seeking. Moreover, unlike Massey’s, my research looks at gender variations in networking opportunities and employment outcomes amongst recent immigrants. My interest in immigrants’ networking strategies is also to ascertain whether sociological theories of networking and employment provide an adequate framework to understand the economic experience of recent immigrants. I specifically examine Granovetter’s (1973, 1974, 1981) argument about the superiority of weak ties (superficial relationships) over strong ties (friendship and kinship) during job seeking, by looking at the labor market experiences of recent Mexican immigrants in Atlanta. While Granovetter emphasizes the effectiveness of weak ties as sources of information and referral, the bulk of research on immigrants’ migration and settlement patterns (Massey 1987, 1991; Massey et al. 1991; Menjívar 2000; Levitt, 2001; Pessar 1995; Rivera-Salgado 2000) highlights the central role of strong ties throughout the migration process. Massey, in particular, found that relatives, friends, and paisanos (people who come from the same town in Mexico and share ties of mutual responsibility), assist one another in various ways throughout the process of international migration, from lending money to sharing information about jobs (Massey 1991: 470). I draw on these seemingly contradictory views to examine the networking strategies that help recent Mexican immigrants find jobs in Atlanta. Significantly, the respective foci of Granovetter and Massey’s research are on different populations, i.e., native-born workers versus labor immigrants. My research tries to bridge this gap by investigating the particular conditions under which strong ties may be of greater assistance than weak ties for recent Mexican immigrants, as they negotiate their adjustment in a new labor market. Furthermore, I expand on previous research to determine whether reliance on such strongly tied networks for information about jobs translates into actual employment opportunities for both male and female recent immigrants.

Introduction

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I argue, along Massey’s line, that strong ties are crucial integrative mechanisms for recent immigrants in a host society. Further, I sustain that the ability of newly arrived immigrants to develop weak ties with people who possess information leading to feasible job opportunities is usually constrained by their undocumented status and limited English proficiency. Under these circumstances, relatives and friends offer these newcomers a reliable frame of reference and safe entry point into the host economy. Unlike Granovetter’s focus on occupational mobility, my interest is assessing the efficaciousness of strong ties as initial work links for recent Mexican immigrants. I argue that strong ties compensate for limited access to weak connections amongst newly arrived, undocumented, and non-English speaking immigrants. However, my research shows that occupational segregation along gender lines limits women’s ability to benefit from their close-knit connections. The data contained throughout this book is based on the narratives of 22 male and 18 female Mexican immigrants interviewed in Atlanta between May and September of 1999. The field research was done in the neighborhoods of Chamblee and Doraville, which concentrate a large number of Mexican immigrants and provide an ideal space to examine immigrant social networks in Atlanta. The use of various ethnographic methods was fruitful in exploring employment paths, analyzing the nature and composition of immigrant networks, and uncovering the meaning immigrants attach to their interpersonal relationships. Overall, my research shows that strong ties are useful work links when job seekers are embedded in a network of fellow workers employed in industries that rely on abundant migrant labor. This was especially the case amongst male immigrants. Relatives and friends offered a safe and accessible source of information, guidance, and referral for new immigrants, which helped them make a smoother transition into the host labor market. The first chapter of this book provides a brief socio-demographic profile of Mexican immigrants in the South, and gives an overview of the theoretical issues and arguments that frame my research. Chapter 2 offers a more comprehensive survey of the literature on job seeking, networking, and migration, highlighting competing explanations about the relevance of different networking strategies in immigrants’ employment search. Chapter 3 describes the research setting and the process of data collection, while chapter 4 gives a profile of the informants in

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terms of socio demographic characteristics and migration paths. My research findings are discussed in chapters 5 through 9. Chapter 5 revisits Granovetter’s classification of network ties as either “strong” or “weak,” and offers alternative definitions of tie-strength based on the meaning immigrants attach to their various relationships. Chapter 6 provides a detailed description of my informants’ job seeking methods, including the use of employment agencies and newspapers’ advertisements, as well as various informal networking strategies. Chapters 7, 8, and 9 discuss the gist of my findings, as they analyze immigrants’ employment outcomes according to their networking strategies. Chapters 7 and 8 focus on the employment trajectories of male immigrants, while chapter 9 concentrates of female immigrants’ employment paths. The concluding chapter returns to my main arguments and revisits my findings in light of their theoretical significance and implications for various competing views of networking and employment yields. I have received much help and encouragement in completing this book. I would like to thank the Department of Sociology at Emory University for financially supporting me, especially during the months I spent collecting data in the field. I am particularly grateful to Dr. John Boli, present Chair of the Sociology Department at Emory, for his wise guidance and genuine interest in my work. His input throughout the various stages of my research, as well as his insightful comments on several drafts of the manuscript, have been truly invaluable in bringing my work to fruition. I would also like to thank Dr. Richard Rubinson, Dr. Joan Herold, and Dr. Jennifer Hirsch, who provided helpful advice and suggestions during the field research and writing of my findings. I am thankful to Guilford College for supporting me in the final stages of my project. To all my colleagues and friends, both at Emory and Guilford, for their cheering encouragement throughout the writing of this book, I am very grateful. My special word of appreciation also goes to the staff of L a Misión Católica Nuestra Señora de Las Américas, especially Father Carlos, Father Richard, and Ms. Betty Clermont. They graciously offered me their hospitality, provided me with logistic support, and helped me understand and become involved with the Mexican community in Atlanta. To my students in the course “Latino Migration Patterns” at Guilford College I am very grateful for their interest in my work and stimulating comments on sections of the manuscript. I am also thankful to LFB Scholarly for their editorial

Introduction

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suggestions and for making possible the publication of this book. Last, but not least, I would like to express my deeply felt gratitude to my parents, Nélida and Fernando Amado, to whom I dedicate this book, for their love, wisdom, and unconditional trust in me.


CHAPTER 1

Mexican Immigrants in the Atlanta Job Market: The Study

MEXICAN IMMIGRANTS IN THE “NEW SOUTH” Latino immigrants are clustering in apartment buildings and mobile home parks in places such as Canton, Cumming, Duluth, East Point, Forest Park, Marietta, Norcross, and Smyrna. About 210,600 moved to metro Atlanta in the 1990s, the U.S. Census Bureau says, to take jobs created by the 1996 Summer Olympics, the building boom around Atlanta and a hunger for workers in poultry plants (Atlanta Journal and Constitution, Bixier 2001: E1). People of Latin American ancestry comprise 13% of the U.S. population and are expected to reach one quarter by the year 2,050. Significantly, a large percentage of the U.S. Latino(a) population is composed of immigrants who entered the country recently, either legally or illegally, in search of jobs. In 2002, 40% of all U.S. Latinos(as) were foreign born. Amongst the foreign born, 52% entered the U.S. between 1990 and 2002 (U.S. Census Bureau 2002c). People of Mexican origin are, by far, the largest group within this population, representing nearly two-thirds of all Latinos(as) in the U.S. In addition to an outstanding rate of growth, Latino(a) immigrants have observed an unprecedented process of geographic dispersion during the last decade. The Southeast is one of the areas experiencing substantial growth in the absolute and relative number of Latinos(as), especially recent Mexican immigrants. In 2002, 35.7% of Latinos(as) and 34.8% of all Mexicans in the U.S. concentrated in the South (U.S. Census Bureau 2002). Ranking fourth in percentage growth of Latinos(as) during the last decade, Georgia is one of the states being transformed by the influx of immigrants from Latin America. The largest 7

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concentration is found in metro Atlanta counties such as Gwinnett, Dekalb, and Fulton. Yet, people of Latin American origin have become visible throughout Georgia, as noted by county and city officials everywhere in the state: “People started coming to Cobb [county] because of the construction boom. The ethnic groups get drawn to their ethnic groups. I believe people follow the jobs.” The expansion of such industries as construction, carpet, and poultry, which tend to rely on abundant, inexpensive, labor, has been a major contributing factor in the growth of Georgia’s foreign stock, especially immigrants from Mexico, as well as in the development of immigrant networks in the area. A recent study in a small northwestern town in Georgia, whose economic livelihood revolves around the carpet industry, provides a clear description of the increasing number of immigrants in the “new South:” The most striking characteristic of the Mexican community in Carpet City has been its phenomenal growth. Several indicators attest indirectly yet clearly to this rapid expansion. Whereas the 1990 Census reported the presence of 2,321 persons of Hispanic origin in the county, with an overwhelming majority (2,047) of Mexican origin, by 1997, estimates developed by the Center for Applied Research in Anthropology (CARA) at Georgia State University contended that there were more than 45,000 Hispanics living in the same jurisdiction. Only counties in metropolitan Atlanta had larger concentrations of Hispanics …(Hernández-León and Zúñiga 2000:56) According to this study, Georgia has become “the single most important destination for those undertaking their initial U.S. move from Mexico” (Hernández-León and Zúñiga 2000: 61). While the increasing presence of Latin American immigrants, especially Mexicans, in Georgia’s economic life is clear, there is still much to learn about the process by which recent, especially undocumented, immigrants enter the host labor market. How is information about jobs circulated amongst new immigrants? What path do undocumented workers follow in their search for employment? Is the path the same for men and women? What connections do they draw upon as

Mexican Immigrants in the Atlanta Job Market

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they try to settle into stable jobs? Are co-ethnics instrumental in the job seeking process? How much information is accessible to them outside their co-ethnic networks? Given the fast increase of Mexican immigrants in Atlanta between 1990 and 2000, this city offers an ideal place to investigate these questions. Drawing on sociological theories about the role of social networks during job search (Granovetter 1972, 1972, 1981; Light 1999; Portes 1995; Portes and Manning 1991; Powell 1990; Sassen 1995), I examine the relative advantages of relying on strong rather than weak network ties for employment information. My analysis revolves around Mexican immigrants’ access to different networking avenues in an unfamiliar, often hostile, labor market. I draw and expand on existing studies about network migration (Duany 2002; Massey 1987, 1991, 2002; Massey et al. 1991; Menjívar 2000; Levitt, 2001; Pessar 1995; Rivera-Salgado 2000; Rothenberg 1998) to determine whether reliance on strongly tied immigrant networks for information about jobs translates into actual employment opportunities for both male and female recent immigrants.

THE DEBATE: STRONG VERSUS WEAK NETWORK TIES Sassen (1995) asserts that “[i]f an immigrant has a factory job in New Jersey at a certain wage, this is the information his cousin in Mexico will use to make a decision about emigrating, not some sense of the comparative relative differential in returns to skill in Mexico and the United States” (Sassen 1995). This statement underlines the centrality of social networks in both migration and the process by which immigrants become economically active in the host society. It also suggests that kinship relationships are quite instrumental as sources of information and referral for people undertaking their journey to the U.S. for the first time. Social networks are “...sets of recurrent associations between groups of people linked by occupation, familial, cultural, or affective ties” (Portes 1995: 8). Theories of social networks emphasize their social binding function and their centrality in economic life. Characterized by patterns of reciprocal exchange, social networks are key sources of capital, information, jobs, economic mobility, and support for individuals embedded in webs of social relationships

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(Granovetter 1973; Powell 1990; Portes 1995). Embeddedness in social networks is particularly relevant in job seeking, especially in the diffusion of employment information. In this regard, Granovetter’s theory of social networks argues that information about job opportunities circulates more effectively through chains of interpersonal relations than through advertisements and employment agencies. His studies about job seeking and occupational networks specifically stress the effectiveness of weak ties (acquaintances and superficial relations) in this process. People linked by weak ties are able to exchange novel ideas, given that their sources of information are not likely to coincide (Granovetter 1973: 1371). In contrast, “[t]hose to whom one is closest [i.e., strong ties] are likely to have the greatest overlap in contact with those one already knows, so that the information to which they are privy is likely to be much the same as that which one already has” (Granovetter 1974: 205). While Granovetter focuses on the structural capacity of weak ties to diffuse information, my analysis revolves around Mexican immigrants’ access to different networking avenues in an unfamiliar, often hostile, labor market. I draw primarily on Massey’s (1987, 1991) ethnographic studies of labor migration between Mexico and the U.S., which show that strong ties (relatives, friends, and co-nationals linked by ties of trust and reciprocity) facilitate the settlement of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. Massey states: To a brother arriving in the United States without money, job, or documents, there is a series of obligations. A place to stay, help in finding work, a loan of money, and the payment of trip expenses are common ways that fraternal ties are strengthened in the migrant context friends who find themselves sharing another formative experience -international migration- assist one another in various ways: finding an apartment in the United States, sharing information about jobs, pooling resources, borrowing or loaning money” (Massey 1991: 470). My research is designed to determine whether job information circulating through such kinship and friendship networks helps recent Mexican immigrants to secure employment in Atlanta. I argue that, in the absence of alternative informational channels, relatives and friends


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are the only connection recent immigrants have with the local labor market. Strongly tied immigrant networks linking sending and receiving communities in Mexico and the U.S., respectively, provide a path for the relocation of new immigrants, many of whom are officially undocumented. Moreover, I propose that the fluid exchanges Massey’s studies describe (i.e., the assistance immigrants give one another in terms of housing, monetary resources, and the like) are crucial enabling conditions for new arrivals. In addition to specific job information, recent immigrants need means of transport, referrals, and all sorts of taken-for-granted “tips” about where and how to apply for employment, how to obtain work permits or documents that prospective employers will accept as legitimate, or what conditions to agree or disagree with when working in a foreign environment. Most newly arrived immigrants would need the assistance of friends, relatives, and neighbors to “cross this border,” i.e., to learn the “know how” in an unfamiliar labor market. Those who are undocumented or lack a fluid command of the English language are unlikely to receive this kind of support outside of the immigrant community. The concept of social capital is central to my argument. Portes defines social capital as “…the capacity of individuals to command scarce resources by virtue of their membership in networks or broader social structures” (Portes 1995: 12). He underlines that “[t]he resources themselves are not social capital; the concept refers instead to the individual's ability to mobilize them on demand.” The rationale behind my argument is that strong ties are richer sources of social capital for recent Mexican immigrants than weak ties. I argue that undocumented status, lack of English proficiency, and limited knowledge of the local labor market constrain recent immigrants’ mobility outside their closeknit networks, as well as their chances of obtaining information about jobs through weak ties. Under these conditions, relatives and friends provide them with a safe and accessible source of information, guidance, and referral, which helps them make a smooth transition into the host labor market. Yet, the social capital available to immigrants’ through such strong ties varies according to gender.

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Y NOSOTRAS, QUÉ? ENGENDERING IMMIGRANT NETWORKS Massey’s ethnographies provide rich information about the centrality of strong ties in the migration and adaptation of male Mexican immigrants. However, his research contributes little to our understanding of female immigrants’ co-ethnic ties given that he focuses exclusively on men. This poses the risk of assuming that the composition, dynamics, and consequences of male immigrant networks are universal and apply equally to both women and men. My research expands on Massey’s studies by contrasting the networking paths and labor market experiences of male and female Mexican immigrants in Atlanta. Analyzing the gender dimensions of network migration and job seeking amongst immigrants is important for several reasons. First, despite a previous focus on male immigrants’ experiences, recent scholarship attests to the fact that labor migration, both internal and international, has been a central phenomenon amongst Latin American women (Oliveira 1991; Fernández-Kelly 1997; Mahler 1995; Pessar 1995; Hirsch 2000; Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001). Moreover, the process of urbanization in various Latin American countries throughout the twentieth century was closely linked to the migration women from rural to urban areas in search of jobs as paid domestic workers. In the case of the migration of women to Latin American capital cities, what has been stressed is its contribution towards the increase of labour supply; its contribution towards the re-creation of the sector of independent workers (pedlars, artisans) in the cities; its role in satisfying the high demand of paid domestic servants generated by the middle and upper classes of big cities; its place in the expansion of non-manual sectors that grow with the expansion of health, education, management and commerce services; and the formation, though only for a minority, of an industrial proletariat (Oliveira 1991: 104) On the international front, U.S. immigration policies and international labor recruitment programs (such as the Bracero Program)


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tended to favor the immigration of men. Yet, the development of female transnational networks coupled with the increasing demand for women in maquiladora industries in border towns and in various economic sectors in the U.S. has brought an increase in the number and visibility of female immigrants (Duchon and Murphy 2001; Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001). Fernández-Kelly’s (1983) path-breaking study of the Mexican Border Industrialization program in Ciudad Juárez found that nearly 85% of maquiladora workers were women. Furthermore, 70% of the women engaged in assembly work were migrants, i.e. born outside of Ciudad Juárez (pp. 214-215). Significantly, many of them aspired to acquire skills in border maquilas, which may later enable them to migrate to the U.S. (Fernández-Kelly 1983: 211). While the maquiladora industry has attracted women from different parts of Mexico to border towns, global economic processes, in general, have created a demand for female immigrant labor in various sectors of the U.S. economy, especially service, but also agriculture and industry. Hondagneu- Sotelo (1994a, 1994b, 2001) has extensively documented the increasing number of immigrant women working in paid domestic service in the Southwest: In Los Angeles, for example, the percentage of African American women working as domestics in private households fell from 35 percent to 4 percent from 1970 to 1990, while foreign-born Latinas increased their representation from 9 percent to 68 percent (Hondagneu-Sotelo 2001: 17) She notes that, while globalization has promoted higher rates of immigration, social networks channel women, both single and married, into paid domestic service. Consistent with migratory trends of the immigrant population at large, female immigrants have started to enter the labor market in various locations outside the Southwest, including the historical South. In their study about Mexican immigrants in a small city of northwest Georgia, Hernández-León and Zúñiga (2000) found that gender has been an important factor in the migration of Mexicans to new, “nontraditional” destinations (p. 59). The expansion of the carpet industry has attracted a significant number of women who migrated into the area directly from Mexico and consolidated stable dual-earning households

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in Georgia. In about 50% of the households included in their survey, both women and men were employed (Hernández-León and Zúñiga 2000:57). However, while their study contrasts the migration histories of women and men, little is said about gendered paths to employment. Social networks have been, indeed, quite central in channeling increasing numbers of Mexican men and women into the carpet industry. Yet, the question remains whether males and females followed the same job-seeking patterns and found their co-ethnics equally useful throughout the process. My research aims at examining these issues in metro Atlanta, which has attracted old and recent immigrants of both sexes in the last decade. A second factor that calls for a gender perspective in the analysis of network labor migration is the gender-specific character of social networks. As with other dimensions of social life, there are significant variations in the ways women and men form, sustain, and use their social networks (McPherson and Smith-Lovin 1982; Gabaccia 1994; Ridgeway and Smith-Lovin 1999). Sassen (1995) observes that “[w]omen’s networks in general have been found to contain more relatives while men’s are more likely to have more coworkers. Thus, the location of networks for women is more likely to be in residential areas, and that of networks for men outside the neighborhood and at the workplace” (p. 103). The gendered character of social networks is likely to take new connotations within the immigrant context. The general hypothesis that guides my analysis is that strong ties pose certain advantages for recent, undocumented, and non-English speaking immigrants looking for jobs. It is worthwhile asking, in this regard, whether each of these factors interacts with gender in ways that affect the composition and dynamics of female networks. Hagan (1994) found the social networks connecting Guatemalan Maya immigrants with the Houston labor market were quite helpful for both men and women at the point of arrival in the host city. However, with time, these networks evolved along gender lines: men’s networks expanded while women’s networks contracted. Along Hagan’s line, my research seeks to explain how gender influences the dynamics of occupational networks amongst Mexican immigrants in Atlanta. Last, but not least, men and women’s differential access to resources within their communities underscores the relevance of a gendered analysis of immigrant networks. The unequal statuses and


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roles of men and women, both in the household and the labor market, are likely to affect their respective positions within social networks, as well as the social capital they can mobilize through their network connections. A good example of this is offered by Menjívar’s (2000) study of Salvadoran immigrant networks in San Francisco. She found that, “[i]nformal exchanges are shaped by cultural norms and practices that govern gender relations, including sexuality, which in many ways preclude women from deriving benefits from exchanges with men” (p. 192) However, the constraints women found in their relationships with men encouraged them to develop close-knit ties with other women, which became important sources of job information and support for them and their families. Like Menjívar’s, Hondagneu-Sotelo’s (1994b) research in four California neighborhoods found that Mexican immigrant women working as domestics formed dense multiple networks and creatively used them to maximize their employment stability and mobility. In various social settings, at picnics, baby showers, in people's homes, and at the parish legalization clinic where I spent two or three afternoons and evenings over the course of several months, I observed immigrant women engaged in animated conversation about housecleaning work. Women traded cleaning tips, tactics about how best to negotiate pay, how to geographically arrange jobs so as to minimize daily travel, how to interact (or more often, avoid interaction) with clients, how to leave undesirable jobs, remedies for physical ailments caused by work, and cleaning strategies to lessen these ailments (p. 28). However, it is significant that immigrant men were usually the first relevant connection for recent immigrant women in the domestic workers’ network. Through their own contacts with other co-ethnic workers, male immigrants would first hear about a vacancy and pass along the information to their female counterparts My research adds to existing scholarship on gendered network migration by examining gender differences in the use and effectiveness of strong ties during job seeking amongst recent Mexican immigrants in Atlanta. My general hypothesis is that strong ties play various

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supportive functions, including job information and referral, which facilitate the entrance of newly arrived Mexican immigrants in the Atlanta labor market. Moreover, given the segmented character of the U.S. labor market along ethnicity and nationality lines, strong ties with fellow Mexican workers are instrumental in connecting newcomer immigrants with jobs in Atlanta. Yet, I also argue that their usefulness is contingent upon gender, occupation, and recruitment strategies in each industry. As I will show in later chapters, these arguments are supported by my findings, which reveal the specific conditions under which immigrants’ strong ties become functional links with the Atlanta labor market.

CHAPTER 2

Sociological Perspectives on Networks and Job Seeking

JOB-SEEKING AND NETWORK TIES Sociological theories of social networks and job-seeking have challenged the neoclassical conceptualization of modern labor markets as efficient, “under-socialized” spheres of activity, governed by supply and demand forces, and minimally affected by social relations and normative expectations (Granovetter 1973, 1974). Further, sociologists dispute the assumption that job information is open and widespread amongst individual job seekers. (Doeringer and Piore 1971; Bonacich 1972; Granovetter 1973, 1974; Reskin and Roos 1990; England 1992; Tomaskovic-Devey 1993; England and Farkas 1994). A central concept in sociological models of job-seeking and occupational attainment is embeddedness, which refers to the influence of social structures and interpersonal relations on the form and outcomes of economic exchange (Polanyi 1971; Granovetter 1973, 1974; Portes 1989, 1995). Sociologists argue that economic action is socially oriented (governed by value introjection, quest for approval, and reciprocity expectations) and social capital is as instrumental as human capital in the successful pursuit of economic gains (Portes 1995). Social capital refers to all sorts of valuables—from money to information—acquired by economic actors through their embedded transactions. It is a function of network size (number of participants in a network), density (number of ties amongst network members), multiplexity (overlapping interactions amongst network members), and centrality of members (position and number of ties of an individual network member) (Portes 1995). 17

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While network theorists acknowledge the relevance of market forces in job availability and allocation, they focus more specifically on the mechanisms by which jobs and people looking for jobs are connected. Empirical research on employment seeking has shown that personal contacts are more efficient sources of job information, job opportunities, and job change than employment agencies and advertisements, which operate through more impersonal mechanisms (Granovetter 1973, 1974). The dynamics of information flow, i.e., how information leading to employment is attained and disseminated, is quite relevant in this regard. In imperfect markets, information is not spread at random. The superiority of informal over formal job search methods is partly explained by the imperfect diffusion and distribution of job information in modern labor markets. The scarcity of job information available to those engaging in mobility is striking. Complete and systematic data on job opportunities is extremely hard to collect. Thus, a single individual operating with heavy constraints on his or her time and resources is likely to uncover only a small proportion of those openings he might plausibly fill at any given time. The use of mass media advertising and employment agencies does not substantially alter this situation. (Granovetter 1974:4). A basic argument in network approaches to labor markets is that job seekers are not atomized, but embedded in social networks. Rather than operating as single, isolated individuals, they draw on their network connections to maximize information, influence, and opportunity. Embedded relations are a primary source of social capital and a central avenue for information flow. In imperfect markets, information tends to circulate through processes unrelated to market behavior, e.g., chains of personal contacts (Granovetter 1974: 51-52). Thus, social relations and structures (i.e., networks) furnish job seekers with cheaper, more extensive, and more effective employment information and influence than formal job-seeking strategies (Granovetter 1985: 490). A central topic in social network analysis of information flow and occupational attainment is the kinds of network connections that are more resourceful for job-seekers. More specifically, various scholarly works have tried to determine whether “weak ties” are more efficacious than “strong ties” in producing job information, job referrals, and actual


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employment for job-seekers. This is a central question in my study about the job-seeking strategies used by Mexican immigrants in Atlanta. Granovetter's studies on social networks postulate the “strength of weak ties;” that is, “whatever is to be diffused [e.g., job information] can reach a larger number of people, and transverse a greater social distance (i.e., path length), when passed through weak ties rather than strong” (Granovetter 1973: 1366). Weak ties are superficial and sporadic contacts between dissimilar and fairly dissociated points or individuals in a network. Their significance lies in their role as channels or “bridges” through which novel ideas, knowledge, and information are widely and extensively disseminated, reaching remote and otherwise unrelated clusters within a network. In contrast to weak ties, strong ties link people who are similar in attributes and interests and engage in frequent interaction. Strong ties tend to develop and concentrate in small, dense networks, in which spheres of activity, friendship circles, personal contacts, and interaction usually overlap (i.e., small, dense, multiplex networks). Thus, information attained through strong ties is likely to be redundant and commonplace. It follows that people with few weak ties are likely to be “encapsulated”—deprived of information, opportunities, influence, and mobility—and therefore at a disadvantage in the job market (Granovetter 1973: 1371). Granovetter's empirical studies support his argument. Having frequency of interaction as a measure of tie strength, one of his studies shows that over three quarters of respondents to a survey found their jobs through personal contacts whom they saw rarely or, at most, only occasionally (Granovetter 1973: 1371). Consequently, he concludes that, compared to strong ties, weak ties are superior means of job allocation. However, this argument assumes that people with whom one is weakly tied possess job information that is different from and superior in quality to that one already has. Granovetter's logic underlines the dynamics of information flow as the crucial process underlying the strength of weak ties in successful job-seeking. However, in order to assess whether weak ties are more effective for immigrants, one would need to know whether their acquaintances represent actual sources of superior job information; that is, whether their weak ties

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actually link them to people who can improve their prospects to enter the labor market. Lin et al. (1981) revisit Granovetter's argument and propose that occupational attainment is a function of both the strength of ties and the social resources embedded in the positions reached through network ties (Lin, et al. 1981: 394-395). Social resources include the wealth, status, power, and social ties of those persons who are directly or indirectly linked to an individual. Network ties with people possessing social resources are important sources of job information and influence (i.e., ability to link an individual to a particular segment of the job market and enhance his or her chances of securing a job). Social resources, however, tend to be unequally distributed amongst individuals with different rankings in the social pyramid, so that people at the top have greater access to and control over such resources (Lin, Ensel, and Vaughn 1981: 395). In this regard, Lin and colleagues introduce an important caveat to existing models of occupational attainment and network ties: not only is the distribution of influence and information in the modern market uneven (as observed by Granovetter), but it varies according to social ranking and along social stratification lines. Whereas people to whom one is weakly tied are expected to possess novel information (i.e., information one does not already have), people in high status positions are likely to offer both quality information and influence by virtue of their social resources. Studies on ethnic entrepreneurship (Portes 1985; Portes and Manning 1991; Portes 1989; Portes 1995) offer some valuable insights as to the circumstances under which strong ties may be richer sources of job information and influence. Such studies also analyze occupational attainment as a function of embeddedness and network ties. However, their emphasis is on the strength and resourcefulness of strong ties. Their specific focus is on closely knit ethnic communities, clustered in terms of geographic and social space and bound by reciprocity ties. Scholars within this tradition explain the success of various U.S. immigrant communities, such as Jews in New York, Koreans in Los Angeles, and Cubans in Miami, in terms of “clannishness,” paternalistic relations, and strong in-group solidarity, rather than reliance on weak ties. The sense of mutual obligation underlying coethnic relations turns strong intra-ethnic ties into powerful and reliable sources of information, influence, training, and protection for job-


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market entrants. Whereas weak ties prove to be effective in terms of information flow, strong co-ethnic ties appear as richer sources of social capital, since they furnish job-seekers with effective tools to obtain and mobilize influence upon demand. Portes and Manning (1991) explain that “[t]he social mechanism at work here seems to be a strong sense of reciprocity supported by collective solidarity that transcends the purely contractual character of business transactions” (Portes and Manning 1991: 329). Thus, the strength of strong ties in dense ethnic networks is not their bridging capacity, but their capacity to supply social resources within the framework of solidarity expectations. Ethnic enclaves—spatially clustered networks of businesses owned by members of the same ethnic minority—in particular, enable immigrants to move ahead economically despite their often limited experience with the receiving society (Portes and Manning 1991: 33; Portes 1995: 27). Portes's argument about the advantages of ethnic networks for immigrant workers extends beyond the enclave mode of economic incorporation. He asserts that those workers who join their co-nationals within communities primarily composed of unskilled workers usually gain few economic opportunities, but they do benefit from the protection that such networks offer against outside prejudice and the shock of acculturation (Portes 1995: 25). In both cases—ethnic enclaves and occupational niches colonized by ethnic workers—access to job information and opportunities depends on the effective mobilization of community resources through strong network ties. Like Portes, Sassen (1995) observes that immigrant labor supply is generally shaped by household and community-based decisions. This is partly explained by the fact that immigrants tend to pursue a collective economic attainment strategy. Immigrants also tend to draw on the ties of mutual obligation that characterize relationships within their networks. Sassen explains: Immigrant communities and households can be characterized by the weight of social ties that bind people together into relationships of trust and mutual obligation, the fact of ‘enforceable trust’ …, and the weight of collective rather than individual economic attainment strategies. All of these shape

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market and influence the release and allocation of labor in the immigrant household (p.106).

Portes and Sassen's arguments could thus contribute to the understanding of social network dynamics in working class immigrant communities. Amongst newly-arrived, undocumented, and non-English speaking immigrants, co-ethnic solidarity probably compensates for lack of access to weak ties. For newcomers, unfamiliar with job requirements and the process of applying for jobs in the U.S., kinship and friendship ties are likely to be crucial sources of both information and guidance. Moreover, in the absence of alternative informational channels, relatives and co-ethnic friends and neighbors may be their only known connection with the local labor market. In such case, one could suggest that strong ties represent a “bridge” between new immigrants and the host economy. For those whose undocumented status poses risks and constraints, co-ethnics can provide a safe and accessible point of reference regarding sites where immigrants can find jobs. According to Portes and Sassen, strong ties become transformed and strengthened by reciprocal obligations within the immigrant context. I propose that financial constraints and social insecurity further solidify in-group solidarity and the internal sourcing of strongly-tied networks amongst Mexican immigrants in Atlanta. Whereas the literature on ethnic entrepreneurship is especially concerned with the significance of strong ties in financially prosperous ethnic enclaves, a number of studies of ghetto life focus on the centrality and functions of strong ties amongst economically disadvantaged, disenfranchised communities. Some of these studies illustrate the mechanisms by which kinship, friendship, and neighborliness are transformed into supporting networks within communities lacking links with mainstream social and economic institutions. Stack's ethnographic study in a northwestern ghetto (1970) found that kinbased and friendship networks provided the foundation of social reproduction amongst poor blacks. In “The Flats,” cooperative alliances interwove blood relatives, fictive kin, and friends into close-knit networks that offered a steady source of goods and services and a creative survival strategy in an economically insecure and extremely deprived environment. As Stack notes:


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In this study I found extensive networks of kin and friends supporting, reinforcing each other—devising schemes of selfhelp, strategies for survival in a community of severe economic deprivation …I became poignantly aware of the alliances of individuals trading and exchanging goods, resources, and the care of children, the intensity of their acts of domestic cooperation, and the exchange of goods and services among these persons, both kin and non-kin …They trade food, stamps, rent money, a TV, hats, dice, a car, a nickel here, a cigarette there, food, milk, grits, and children (Stack 1970: 2832). As with ethnic enclaves, relationships within The Flats were based on exchange, and the social mechanism keeping the network together was reciprocal obligation and trust. To this end, Stack observes: Patterns of exchange among people living in poverty and reciprocal exchanges in cultures lacking a political state are both embedded in well-defined kinship obligations. In each type of social system strategic resources are distributed from a family base to domestic groups and exchange transactions pervade the social-economic life of participants (Stack 1970: 39). Yet the function of strong ties in impoverished communities like those described by Stack is more a survival than a mobility strategy. According to Stack, the dense multiplex networks of kin and friends in The Flats represent “the collective adaptations to poverty of men, women, and children …” in dispossessed urban communities (Stack 1970: 28). Stack explains: Black families living in The Flats need a steady source of cooperative support to survive. They share with one another because of the urgency of their needs …Kin and close friends who fall into similar economic crises know that they may share food, dwelling, and even the few scarce luxuries of those individuals in their kin network. Despite the relatively high cost of rent and food in urban black communities, the

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market collective power within kin-based exchange networks keeps people from going hungry (p. 33).

Granovetter (1981) has addressed alternative interpretations of the strength of ties such as those proposed by Lin et al. and Stack. In a recent essay he recognizes the unique role of strong ties amongst economically insecure groups. First, he observes that, whereas weak ties provide information beyond the individual’s own circle, strong ties tend to have greater motivation to be of assistance and are more easily available (Granovetter 1981: 209). Second, he stresses that only “bridging” weak ties are of special value for individuals. Amongst lower socio-economic groups, weak ties are often just acquaintances rather than bridges (Granovetter 1981: 209). Third, he observes that employment difficulty, economic insecurity, and lack of social services normally prompt reliance on strong ties. Amongst Mexican immigrants in Atlanta, such conditions may indeed encourage reliance on co-ethnic ties. Lack of familiarity with the host community and the local economy, limited English proficiency, and financial and legal insecurity is likely to enhance the role of kin and co-ethnics and transform strong ties into crucial resources for immigrants in the process of settlement and economic incorporation. Thus, I hypothesize that lack of weak ties, and the development of reciprocal co-ethnic obligations, enhance the resourcefulness of strong ties. While Granovetter’s claim about the “encapsulating” consequences of strong ties is based on a structural approach, his line of argument is contested by recent studies stressing the structural roots of kinship arrangements among ethnic minorities. Baca-Zinn (1994), for example, views Mexican-Americans’ reliance on kinship networks as consequence, rather than cause, of economic deprivation and social isolation. She observes that kinship arrangements support Mexicans' migration patterns, help immigrants locate housing and employment, and establish their initial links with the new society (Baca-Zinn 1994: 73). Under conditions of racial and economic exclusion in the U.S., strong kinship and co-ethnic ties also serve to buffer the constraints imposed by social inequality during the first years of post-immigration residence (BacaZinn 1994: 73). Whether kinship institutions enhance or retard social mobility and status attainment, they appear to be instrumental to poor


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immigrants’ incorporation into new social and economic settings. The following section explores in further detail the nature, operation, and function of strong ties among Latin American immigrants, by examining the wide range of sociological research on this topic.

STRONG TIES, SETTLEMENT, AND JOB SEEKING AMONGST LATIN AMERICAN IMMIGRANTS IN THE U.S. The extensive literature on migration patterns and labor market participation of Latin American immigrants in the U.S. tends to emphasize the prevalence and centrality of strong ties in their social and economic lives. From the point of departure to destinations in the U.S., ties of kinship and paisanaje (co-ethnic ties) amongst Latinos seem to determine who migrates and when and how immigrants enter U.S. territory or “cross the border.” Co-ethnic ties also seem to play a key role in determining where immigrants settle and for how long, how they survive upon arrival in the receiving community, how and where they find jobs, whether families will accompany or follow them, and whether immigrant families will decide to stay, relocate, or return. Although most would agree that the lives of Latin American immigrants in the U.S. are structured around kinship and co-ethnic networks, there is less agreement about the relative advantages and drawbacks of Latinos’ reliance on strong ties, particularly as regards labor market processes. Various studies portray dense co-ethnic networks as a survival strategy that enhances migration and helps immigrants settle despite their limited personal resources (Massey 1987, 1991, 1994; Portes 1991, 1995; Bacca-Zinn 1994, 1995). Others (e.g., Mier and Giloth 1985) focus on the limiting effects of strong ties in terms of occupational mobility. In this section, I present examples of both lines of argument, giving central attention to those studies that illustrate the circumstances under which strong ties can become useful sources of information and support. I am especially interested in examining the way in which immigrants construct dense co-ethnic networks that may eventually ease their entrance and adaptation to social and economic institutions in the host society. Hence, the specific focus of this section is on empirical studies of Latin American immigrants that shed light on the

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way strong ties are strengthened within the migrant context and used by newly arrived immigrants to find jobs and settle within the new society. Massey’s work (1987, 1991, 1994) exemplifies the first line of analysis. His impressive ethnographic research into Mexicans’ migration and settlement process seems to support the “strength of strong ties” argument, and has set the framework for further research on network migration among groups of other Latin American nationalities. Massey’s central proposition is that Mexican migration to the U.S. has become a self-perpetuating phenomenon, unleashed and sustained by co-ethnic networks. He observes: While the displacement of farm labor by agricultural modernization may cause out-migration, networks direct it to the United States. Over time, the operation of networks tends to be self-perpetuating, so that international migration continues independently of the conditions that originally sparked it. Expansion of the networks leads to more migration, which leads to the expansion of the networks (Massey 1991: 475476). According to Massey, kin and friendship relations are at the basis of migrant networks, linking sending and receiving communities, providing the path for continuous migration, and establishing social structures for the smooth incorporation of newcomers into the host society: “[p]eople from the same community are enmeshed in a web of reciprocal obligations, and new migrants draw on these to enter and find work in the receiving society. Each new migrant becomes part of the social contacts, which encourages still more migration…” (Massey 1987: 1374) As with Portes’s studies on ethnic enclaves, Massey’s research on Mexican immigrants underscores not only the prominence of strong ties within immigrant communities, but also the special meaning and varied functions they acquire on the basis of reciprocity expectations. Within the migrant context, new understandings develop of what being a relative, friend or neighbor means and entails in terms of mutual aid. Cooperation and reciprocal exchanges allow for continuous migration and reduce the costs and risks involved in the settlement process. Furthermore, kin and friendship ties link immigrants to employers and


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labor contractors, giving immigrants access and a point of entrance to the U.S. labor market. Thus, strong ties within migrant networks “…create a secure context within which migrants can arrive, adjust, and find work” (Massey 1987: 1399). Whereas weak ties have the structural capacity to serve as bridges and facilitate access to jobs, it is through strong ties that “U.S. employment is brought within easy reach of most households” in various areas of Mexico (Massey 1987: 1398). Massey’s research on migration thus emphasizes the resourcefulness of strong ties within Mexican ethnic networks. Meanwhile, studies focusing on occupational attainment underline how reliance on strong ties tends to steer Latino immigrants into secondary labor market jobs. In a study about employment opportunities in Pilsen (a Chicago community with an eighty percent Latino(a) population), Mier and Giloth (1985) found evidence that lack of weak ties outside the ethnic network prevented Pilsen Mexican residents from taking advantage of the job opportunities offered by local firms. After controlling for such individual attributes as educational attainment and English proficiency, the authors found that Mexicans’ concentration in low income jobs outside the Pilsen area was at least partially explained by the local structure of communication networks. The flow of job information and opportunities through informal networks of workers was, according to Mier and Giloth, the key employment allocation strategy in the Pilsen labor market (Mier and Giloth 1985: 304-305). Yet this same employment mechanism has kept Pilsen Mexican residents from entering the local labor market and has fostered their allocation in lower-skilled jobs, usually outside of Pilsen. Mier and Giloth's study of employment opportunity and allocation in Pilsen brings forth the way in which lack of weak ties may constrain immigrants’ occupational mobility by leading to the encapsulation of this labor force in secondary labor market jobs. However, one could question whether reliance on strong ties is the result rather than the cause of occupational segregation. My research supports the argument that immigrant workers’ tendency to rely on strong ties is likely to be a function of their illegal status, English language limitations, and ethnicity in racially stratified/segregated communities in the U.S. The role of ethnicity, English proficiency, and illegal status in defining, demarcating and sometimes limiting immigrants’ networks has been illustrated by various empirical studies. Briody (1987) for

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example, found that legal status influenced the scope of network connections and the range of opportunities accessible to Mexican immigrants in south Texas: Because of the possibility of deportation, undocumented households or household members find that they are often in a vulnerable position with regard to locating work, and in terms of exploitation at the work site (via lower wages). Some are not as well incorporated into social networks as are documented immigrants and may not benefit from certain jobs or social services because of their lack of awareness about them. In other matters such as shopping, registering the children for school, taking a bus to a nearby town, and finding suitable health care, their fear of detection generally limits their daily activities (Briody 1987: 38). A study of settlement and work patterns of undocumented Central Americans in Houston (Rodríguez 1987) shows that the social and economic incorporation of Salvadorans, Hondurans, and Guatemalans in the U.S. is also organized on the basis of extended households and co-ethnic networks. Through interviews and direct observations, Rodríguez found that most immigrants settled in traditional Hispanic Zones (neighborhoods with the highest levels of Spanish-origin foreign stock in Houston); transitional Hispanic Zones (those with a growing number of Hispanics as a total proportion of the neighborhood population); and new Hispanic Zones (those containing visible Hispanic residential pockets within a heavily non-Hispanic area). Rodríguez suggests that the presence of ethnic institutions within these Hispanic Zones attracts and provides a familiar setting for undocumented immigrants with scarce resources: “[t]ortillerias [a special type of ethnic restaurant], Catholic and Evangelical churches, cantinas [traditional Latin American bars], provide a community environment in these Zones that comes close to the one left behind by Central Americans” (Rodríguez 1987:13). Yet, in Rodríguez 's view, co-ethnic ties are not constraining or isolating. In addition to providing a community environment, strongly tied ethnic networks are instrumental for Central American immigrants trying to survive and settle in a new place. Rodríguez asserts that the social resources found within the ethnic


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community greatly affect undocumented immigrants’ ability to settle (or their need to relocate). He observes: The level of difficulty in this [initial] stage is directly proportional to the arriving migrant’s levels of social resources in the city. Undocumented migrants who have many relatives or hometown friends in the city easily find a place to stay and orient themselves to their new setting; on the other hand, arriving migrants who have no social resources in the city may end up migrating to another area (Rodríguez 1987: 15). In Rodríguez 's research, the local ethnic network appears as the most important stabilizing mechanism amongst newly arrived Central Americans: “…the larger the social network that serves for organizing undocumented migration, the greater are the social and economic resources that can be mustered for settlement, lending to greater household stability” (Rodríguez 1987: 17). Rodríguez’s research, unlike Briody’s, portrays co-ethnic networks as resourceful, enabling, and even empowering, rather than limiting and encapsulating. Further, Rodríguez suggests that social resources acquired through co-ethnic ties are more relevant than personal resources to status attainment. For example, Guatemalan Indians coming from a traditional background fare better than Hispanic (mestizo) Guatemalans coming from industrial cities, due to the strongly tied ethnic networks of the former. Unlike Hispanic Guatemalans who have mixed with other Latinos within larger, looser, and more diverse residential and economic networks, Indians from Totonicapan (a province in Guatemala) have created their own social networks by living and interacting mainly amongst themselves and making their own households extensions of their native communities. Although Totonicapan Indians have had to face a starker and more complex transition than Hispanic Guatemalans (from rural communities to urban industrial cities; from cottage industry to a wage-labor system), their adaptation process and overall social and economic development has proved to be faster than that of Hispanic Guatemalans. Rodríguez attributes this to their clearly demarcated ethnic networks and internal solidarity. He affirms that, amongst Totonicapan Indians,

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market ethnic culture has been the source of a strong, cohesive social organization, which provides a level of adaptational support not found among the Hispanic Guatemalans …Setting apart from the larger undocumented Latino enclaves, the indigenas… effectively maintain their culture and support fellow immigrants. Moreover, among the indigenas, social networks act as strong conduits for jobs for newcomers (Rodríguez 1987: 24).

Thus, Rodríguez’s research exemplifies the view that strong ties play a fundamental role in immigrants’ ability to become established. His study indicates that homogeneous and strongly tied ethnic enclaves are more useful resources for immigrants than weakly tied networks, since dense immigrant networks operate as links or bridges between new or undocumented immigrants and the receiving community. Significantly, he also analyzed the dynamics of information flow through weak and strong ties and the way in which undocumented status influences the formation of labor enclaves. He observed that a high percentage of his interviewees worked in crews that included only undocumented immigrants or a mixture of undocumented Central American immigrants and Chicanos. In addition to reciprocity ties, the hiring practices of U.S. employers play a major part in the formation of labor enclaves. He noticed that, with the exception of live-in servants, undocumented workers usually work in crews because employers prefer to hire undocumented workers in group (Rodríguez 1987: 20). Employers implement this practice by making job information and opportunities available to several subcontracted crews of two or three undocumented workers. Employers’ frequent use of this hiring strategy brings them certain benefits: An in-depth interview of a restaurant manager with experience in several restaurants in Houston revealed advantages that employers gain from employing a group of undocumented workers: an undocumented work group serves as recruiting means when additional workers are needed, as workers are anxious to find job for relatives, friends, or other household members; the social relations in the undocumented work group increase the efficiency of the labor process, as workers


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informally share tasks (this advantage increases with the homogeneity of the group, which reduces competition between workers); a work group with high national homogeneity performs the socialization of new workers (Rodríguez 1987: 21). Yet, immigrants also benefit. Unlike Mier and Giloth, who associate such enclave labor markets with the formation of internal labor markets, Rodríguez underlines the advantages that immigrants derive from their labor enclaves, which provide undocumented workers with a Spanish-language labor setting, socialization into a new work culture, and information about other job opportunities. Boyd (1989) introduces an important variable in this debate, which further explains the relevance of dense co-ethnic networks and the conditions that strengthen the role of strong ties amongst immigrant workers, namely the policies of receiving countries regarding immigration and permanent settlement of foreign workers. She asserts that the development, operation, and functions of co-ethnic networks depend on and are shaped by such policies: In countries which view immigrants as marginal and temporary, other characterizations regarding the content and development of networks may exist. For example, as a correlate of Germany's alien policy, the achievement of Turkish workers depends very much on their personal relationships …The intense utilization of networks based on kin and ethnicity results in the 'colonization' of certain factories and towns or villages by Turks related through kinship or village origins (Boyd 1989: 652). Boyd observes that this is especially true for undocumented immigrants, “…for the operation of networks [is] crucial for all aspects of the migratory process, ranging from the decision to migrate to the obtaining of employment…” (Boyd 1989: 352). Following Massey and Portes, Boyd argues that personal networks furnish immigrants with money, food, shelter, job information and contacts, information on health care and social services, and recreation and emotional support. In other words, when favorable settlement and integration policies are

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absent in the host society, ethnic networks acquire special functions and become a pivotal supporting system for immigrants' incorporation in the receiving society. In addition to kin networks, she asserts, ethnic associations are instrumental in the migratory/settlement/integrative processes of immigrants. Such associations (religious, sport, recreational) tend to act as paths or “conduits” for information and help (Boyd 1989: 652). Although her focus is mainly cross-national, Boyd draws on the case of Mexican immigrants to illustrate her argument. She notes that various Mexican communities in the U.S. are based on the institutionalization of migration through social networks (Boyd 1989: 645). Programs such as the United States-Mexico Bracero Accord (1942-1964) were designed to promote migration as a temporary, onetime event. Yet, after the termination of the program, kinship and personal ties induced more migration and facilitated both legal and undocumented immigrants' survival in the U.S., despite the passage of various anti-immigration laws (Boyd 1989: 647). Wilson (1998) has also studied the operation of immigrant networks amongst Mexicans in the U.S. Her concern is the relative importance of ethnic networks in the economic incorporation of Mexican newcomers. She also looks at the dynamics of network formation, whereby networks tend to develop around localities in which immigrants find employment (Wilson 1998: 394). Wilson observes that the presence of kin and friends and the availability of employment are two important variables defining the destination of immigrants and the locales where their networks are created. Yet job opportunities do not attract immigrants unless they know about the openings. According to Wilson, job information amongst Mexican immigrants flows through both kinship (strong ties) and acquaintance networks (weak ties), but the clustering of people around specific work sites “…is due more to the strength of strong ties than due to the weak tie social capital provided by more diffuse migration or ethnic group networks” (Wilson 1998: 395). After studying various Mexican communities throughout the U.S., Wilson concluded that the distribution of job information amongst immigrants follows a continuum, from stronger to weaker ties: “[i]n distributing job information, (subjectively) close relatives would be advised and situated prior to more (subjectively) distant family mem-


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bers, friends prior to paisanos, and long term acquaintances prior to short term acquaintances.” Those with “strong ties” would thus, as a “solidaristic small group,” “…be amongst the first to share potential employment information and, most importantly, to recruit one another into openings in established employment” (Wilson 1998: 398). Like Portes and Massey, Wilson underscores the resourcefulness of strong ties and the unique dynamics of information flow within immigrant networks, underlined by a strong sense of solidarity. Yet Wilson also notes the role of weak ties in immigrants’ geographical and occupational mobility. As networks incorporate acquaintances with diverse experiences and knowledge about different work sites, the new members provide an “information bridge” to other network clusters. But the reciprocity expectations which characterize immigrants’ relations soon turn such acquaintances into strong ties via friendship, compadrazgo (co-parentship), or marriage (Wilson 1998: 400). Drawing on the studies of Massey, Rodríguez, Chavez, and Boyd, I propose that social capital available to immigrants in co-ethnic networks is a key mechanism through which strong ties help them enter the labor market. Not only are kinship and co-ethnic ties an accessible source of information about the local labor market for new immigrants, but they are also likely to be a source of guidance and logistic support. The literature discussed thus far has primarily focused on male networks (e.g. Massey's studies) or has included gender only as a variable. The following section examines various studies on immigrant networks which have specifically taken a gender perspective by bringing women to center stage or focusing on gender as one of the organizing principles of ethnic networks.

IMMIGRANT WOMEN’S NETWORKS: THE SALIENCE OF GENDER IN NETWORK FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT In their work about gender variations in networking, McPherson and Smith-Lovin’s (1982) observe that women, compared to men, tend to belong to fewer and smaller organizations, and usually participate in associations that are “accommodative and nurturant in character,” i.e., oriented toward domestic affairs (McPherson and Smith-Lovin 1982: 884). In contrast, men tend to have more organizational ties. They are more likely to join organizations that have instrumental or economic

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goals and are intended to cope with the external environment (McPherson and Smith-Lovin 1982: 884). Menjívar’s (2000) research of Salvadoran communities in San Francisco shows that, amongst immigrants, gender also shapes the development of and resources people exchanged within social networks. Specifically, she found that women’s capacity to reciprocate in informal exchanges was more limited than men’s, given their fewer resources and more limited bargaining power, as well as reduced contexts of interaction (usually around the domestic sphere) relative to men (Menjívar 2000: 162). These limitations negatively affected women’s capacity to benefit from their ties with men. However, they provided an incentive to forge ties with other women, including nonLatinas (Menjívar 2000: 164). How do gender variations in networking patterns affect employment search and outcomes amongst immigrant women? Sassen (1995) observes that, amongst immigrants, there are significant gender variations in spatial patterning and location of social ties, job search paths, information gathering, and sensitivity to job location. Whereas male immigrant networks usually include both relatives and co-workers, female networks tend to contain mainly relatives. Consequently, the location of male networks is more likely to be outside the neighborhood while that of female networks is usually residential areas (Sassen 1995: 103). Furthermore, immigrant women, as compared to men, are more sensitive to job location and prefer to work closer to home. According to Sassen, gender differences in network location and composition and sensitivity to job location shape job-search patterns and the conditions of entry into the labor force. In a similar vein, Hagan (1994) studied the labor market effects of gendered networks in the U.S. amongst Maya (Guatemalan Indian) immigrants in Houston. After a three-year ethnographic study with 74 undocumented Maya immigrants, she found that their co-ethnic networks were quite instrumental in starting and directing migration waves from Totonicapan (a Maya community in Guatemala) to the U.S. Such networks also helped to accommodate immigrants in Houston and provide a point of entry to the U.S. labor market. Yet, over time, such networks—based on kinship and ethnic solidarity—diverged and continued to develop along gender lines, yielding diverse outcomes and benefits for men and women in terms of job mobility and permanent,


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stable settlement. Whereas men, through their male co-ethnic networks, entered and concentrated in the maintenance department of one major supermarket chain in the Houston area, women, relying on their ethnically and sex-segregated networks, entered and remained in private household domestic service over the study period (Hagan 1994: 58-59). Hagan outlines the labor system, networking strategies, and relative benefits of each work setting. Among men, This ethnic-based system of labor relies on the community’s social network to control recruitment, work schedules, and promotion. Friends and kin already employed in the supermarket chain alert prospective [co-ethnic] workers …of the availability of a job …Social interaction between Maya workers and department and store managers flows almost entirely through the encargado [supervisor of the maintenance crew among co-ethnics in each of the stores employing Maya men] who also organizes his crew’s work schedules and organizes promotions …Under the encargado system, Maya workers can miss work for several days without fear of being reported to the store manager …(Hagan 1994: 58-59). Hagan observes that Maya male networks allow male newcomers to enjoy almost immediate access to jobs and increase their income steadily. Eventually, their networks mature and expand to encompass neighbors, non-co-ethnics at their places of work, and people whom they meet at community events and voluntary associations, where they forge weak-tie relations (Hagan 1994: 60). Maya women also find jobs upon arrival in the U.S. through kin and friends living in Houston. But their opportunities are generally found in private household domestic service, around which their networks develop. Live-in domestic workers can provide only limited assistance to recent female arrivals. Confined largely to the employer’s house and to unequal patterns of exchange within the employer’s family, they do not benefit from the social relations of reciprocity that men find in the ethnic neighborhood …News of a job opening is restricted to information passed through the employer or through other

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market live-in domestics they see at Sunday religious and other community gatherings. Further, because only a few household positions are open at any one time, domestic workers compete with their own friends and kin. Consequently women wait far longer than men to find jobs; each newcomer woman must gain access to a separate employer, while teams of men are hired by one employer through the encargado …Unable to maintain horizontal links with either coethnics or nonethnics, the women become increasingly dependent on and controlled by their patronas [female employers of domestic workers]. This situation leads to the breakdown of ethnic-based networks and to eventual isolation. In contrast to the men in the community, who live and work side by side, pool rides to work, and meet for soccer matches on weekends, the women typically work alone from Monday through Saturday in their employers’ households (Hagan 1994: 61).

Consequently, Hagan concludes that, over time, men’s networks tend to expand whereas women’s networks tend to contract. Expanding male networks allow Maya men to draw more economic benefits and stability than Maya women gain from their own female networks. Not only do Maya men enter a more dynamic labor market, but, over time, they are more likely than Maya women to obtain legal immigrant status in the U.S. thanks to their versatile co-ethnic networks and their expanding weak-tie connections. Although Hagan uncovers the existence of clearly defined gendered networks amongst Mayas in Houston, one may still be hesitant to conclude that there is a causal link between sex composition of networks and labor market outcomes. Are gendered networks creating a sex-segregated labor market for Maya newcomers in Houston, or does pervasive occupational sex-segregation in the U.S. labor market cause male and female Maya workers to form and participate in different networks? Hagan’s study reveals that, in the case of Mayas in Houston, both men and women benefit from strong kinship and co-ethnic ties from the moment of migration (when kin and friends alert Mayas in Totonicapan about job opportunities in Houston) to the process of settlement and labor market incorporation in the receiving community. Maya networks’ initial structure and operation


37

seemed to incorporate both men and women within a fairly integrated web of co-ethnics at both the sending and receiving ends. Thus, one may argue that it is the characteristics of the Houston labor market (ethnically and sex-segregated) which defines the structure and composition of immigrant networks and their capacity to expand or contract. The contraction of female co-ethnic networks, their fragile ties, and the ineffectiveness of their strong ties as labor market connections seem to be a function of the residential isolation and lack of teamwork in private household domestic service. While gendered networks affect job seeking and employment amongst immigrants, we can argue that gendered recruitment patterns in an occupationally segregated labor market also lead to the formation of gender-specific networks. Hondagneu-Sotelo and Cranford (1999) illustrate this point well: The Bracero Program provided the legislative foundation for the strength of men’s social migrant networks …[T]hese male networks were not automatically extended to wives or other female kin Instead, wives had to struggle with their husbands, and daughters with their fathers, before they could migrate. Eventually, women’s migrant networks developed that allowed women to migrate to California without the approval of make kin, but with the help of an aunt or a sister already in the United States. (Hondagneu-Sotelo and Cranford 1999: 115). Hondagneu-Sotelo's study of domestic workers' networks amongst female Mexican immigrants in Oakview, California (1994a, 1994b) portrays female immigrant networks as dynamic and resourceful. Her central finding is that female domestic worker networks help Mexican women stabilize employment, increase their economic benefits, and promote and consolidate settlement for their families in the U.S. As with Maya immigrants in Houston, Mexican immigrants in Oakview enter a sex-segregated labor market where most men are employed as gardeners and most women as private household domestic servants. However, in Hondagneu-Sotelo's study, Mexican women's initiative plays a central role in shaping female networks and adjusting them to their special needs. Despite the typical isolation of paid domestic workers, Mexican women in Oakview managed to forge and sustain

38


dynamic informational networks. They were able to recreate their working conditions, develop an informal work culture, and gain control over their labor system. This was done through a working strategy termed “job-work.” Unlike the Maya women described by Hagan, Mexican women in Oakview had dismantled the particularistic structure of employer-employee relationships in paid domestic service through the adoption of “job-work,” a practice that involves work on a non-live-in basis. Through job work, domestic workers clean a particular house on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, thus having several employers at the same time (Hondagneu-Sotelo 1994a: 51). According to Hondagneu-Sotelo, the job-work system allowed the interviewed women to operate on a more independent basis, work more flexible hours and control their schedules, choose their employers, reduce the asymmetry of employer-domestic worker relations, and negotiate their pay-scale. Paid by the task rather than by the hour, non-live-in domestic workers positioned themselves as experts selling their labor (Hondagneu-Sotelo 1994a: 52). By maintaining different jobs, Mexican domestic workers were able to avoid privatized and personalistic interactions with their customers and negotiate working conditions with greater leverage. How did their co-ethnic networks help and come into play? Hondagneu-Sotelo reveals that entrance into the domestic service labor niche was usually attained by breaking into employers' informal networks when a non-ethnic woman would refer a potential domestic worker to her friends and colleagues (Hondagneu-Sotelo 1994a: 55). Well established kin and friends helped in this regard, but quite often it was immigrant men, through their own contacts with other co-ethnic workers who would first hear and pass along the information of somebody looking for a maid, thus opening the door for women to enter the employer network. Yet the work culture that developed amongst non-live-in domestic workers, allowing them to control their labor system, was built through informal co-ethnic women networks. Social interaction amongst Mexican domestic workers in community events, such as picnics, baby showers, baptisms, birthday parties, and religious celebrations, fostered the development of strong informational networks through which women collectively set the standards of their work as domestic servants. Women engaged in domestic work exchanged cleaning tips. They trained newcomers regarding how to


39

organize or arrange geographically distant jobs in an efficient way and sustain them over time, how to make travel between households more efficient, how to be selective when choosing jobs, how to avoid or deal with undesirable employers, and how to be assertive in setting the pay and maintaining a certain income level. Those who had stabilized their work by establishing enough steady customers were even able to pass referrals to newcomers or subcontract the services of other women. Although such subcontracting arrangements were not free of conflict and could become exploitative, they also served as recruiting and training mechanisms for new arrivals. Subcontracting served as an adaptation device where newcomer immigrant women learned the “how-to’s” of private household domestic work, such as the convenient use of vacuum cleaners, cleansers, work techniques, and the negotiation of employment terms. Through their informal networks, Mexican domestic workers in Oakview minimized their job insecurity and regulated a highly unregulated occupation: “[w]orking for lower level pay was typically met with murmurs of disapproval or pity…Conversely those women who earned at the high end were admired” (HondagneuSotelo 1994b: 58). The works discussed in this section coincide on their recognition of the gendered nature of immigrant networks. However, there is less agreement on the resourcefulness of women’s networks as compared to men’s. Hondagneu-Sotelo's study gives us a picture in which the exploitation and powerlessness of disenfranchised immigrant women in a segmented labor market can be countered through such strongly tied female-segregated networks, constructed by similarly positioned women. Meanwhile, Maya women in Houston found themselves losing ground as their networks became increasingly segregated along gender lines. These diverse findings replicate recent debates about the “emancipatory” or constraining effects of migration in women’s lives (Pessar 1986 and 2003; Hirsch 2000; Levitt 2001). My research intends to show that the level of resources available to male and female Mexican immigrants looking for jobs in Atlanta is mediated by the structure of a host labor market segregated along gender lines. Concerning the strength of close-knit immigrant networks my central argument holds that reliance on strong ties helps to shield immigrants of both sexes from the uncertainties of a labor market segmented along ethnic, nationality, and immigration status lines.


CHAPTER 3

Investigating Mexican Immigrants in Atlanta: Field Research and Data Collection

The methods of data gathering included participant observation and indepth interviews with a sample of 40 recent Mexican immigrants in Atlanta, including 22 men and 18 women. In this chapter I describe the setting and sampling framework, provide a general profile of the study participants, give a detailed overview of the research process, and explain the coding and data analysis procedures.

RESEARCH SETTING AND STUDY PARTICIPANTS The core of my field research took place in the Chamblee-Doraville area, located in northern Atlanta. The neighborhoods of Chamblee and Doraville are known for their high concentration of Mexican immigrants and for the “ethnic” flavor of the community, which includes various Mexican restaurants and grocery stores, churches that offer religious services in Spanish, and non-governmental organizations that provide diverse social services to immigrants. Thus, this area represented a fertile ground to examine the use of social networks by immigrant workers. The key research location was a religious organization named La Misión Católica de Nuestra Seňora de las Américas, which is located in Doraville, nearby the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transportation Authority) train station in that area. Since my initial visits to La Misión, I became aware that this place offered an ideal site for developing connections, becoming familiar with recent Mexican 41

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immigrants in Atlanta, and gaining access to the community. Some of the most significant attributes of this setting as a fruitful research site included: •

•

• •

Its strategic location within a densely populated immigrant neighborhood, less than one mile from the last train station in the north-south rail line. The variety of free and low-cost services that it provides, ranging from religious to health, educational, and recreational programs, which attract immigrants from both Doraville and other neighborhoods in Atlanta. The daily flow of immigrants who come to La Misión to receive a variety of religious or social services. The type of customers whose needs are more likely to be served by La Misión, which primarily include recent arrivals and low skill migrant workers.

Preliminary interviews with the parish priest, as well as with program leaders, administrative personnel, and members of the community who regularly volunteered their services at La Misión, were clue in obtaining an insider’s perspective about the “life” of this institution. For example, in the course of such informal conversations I learned that La Misión is a “first stop” for many immigrants who arrive in Atlanta for the first time with limited information and resources. I had the opportunity to confirm this in the course of my interviews with the study participants. My daily visits and extended observations on the site were primary sources of knowledge. These were especially helpful in becoming acquainted with the activities and internal dynamics of La Misión as a community organization. In addition to daily religious celebrations, La Misión provides various social services to the Latino(a) community in the neighborhoods of Doraville, Chamblee, and beyond. These include health care for low-income migrant workers, ESL (English as a Second Language) classes, soap and a shower in the men’s room for immigrant workers lacking such facilities, and a food pantry and clothing room open to new arrivals in need of material assistance. Concerning the habitual users of the parish’s religious and social services, Latin American immigrants occupy center stage. In the course of my field observations, I took note of the permanent flow of Mexican

Immigrants in Atlanta: Field Research and Data Collection

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and Central American immigrants of both sexes, who regularly attended mass, received advice, requested material assistance in the form of money, food, meals, and personal items, participated in special religious celebrations, and socialized informally. A recent interview with the current parish priest and Director of La Misión Católica, Father Richard Kieran, illustrates well the specific population catered by this organization: [My congregation] is a mixed group of Hispanics, mostly Mexican, along with people from Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Columbia. They are day laborers, workers on construction jobs, in factories and restaurants. In this regard, La Misión seemed to offer an ideal research site, or at least an appropriate starting point, to investigate my central question, i.e., how do recent, low-skilled, often undocumented and non Englishspeaking Mexican immigrants negotiate their entrance into a new society, become economically active, and find jobs? The choice of La Misión Católica as my focal research site was, therefore, based on the grassroots character of this organization, which facilitated both my entry in the community and the negotiation of trust with potential participants. In designing an appropriate sampling frame, I relied on the basic principles of qualitative research. These involve collecting information from a small sample, whose attributes and composition allow the investigator to obtain the richest possible data without surpassing the “point of redundancy.” In this regard, Patton (1990) observes: …qualitative inquiry typically focuses in depth on relatively small samples …selected purposefully …The logic and power of purposeful sampling lies in selecting information-rich cases for study in depth (p. 169). Following this approach, I drew a convenience sample of 40 immigrants, including 22 men and 18 women. The specific selection criteria were the following: •

To have been born, brought up, and educated (when applicable) in Mexico.

44 • • •

Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market To have lived in Atlanta for no more than 10 years. To be 18 years or older. To be working or looking for a job in Atlanta.

Most interviews took place at La Misión. My observations at this site suggested that immigrants who came to this place represented a “microcosm” of the population I intended to study. Not only were they representative of the lower strata within the local immigrant community, but also most were recent immigrants with an average of five years of residence in Atlanta. Within my first two weeks of intensive field research at La Misión, I was able to corroborate the information provided by the center’s staff concerning the national and occupational diversity of the population catered by this organization. I was stroke by the daily flow of immigrants from various nationalities, especially from Mexico and Central America, who were current residents in different areas of Atlanta, including, but not exclusively, the neighborhoods of Doraville and Chamblee. Due to the limited health care services available to undocumented immigrant workers, the clinic seemed to be a major point of attraction for Latin American immigrants residing in different points of the city. Significantly, I discovered that each visit to the place gave me an opportunity to meet and interact with new and different people. Most likely, this was also due the fact that La Misión not only caters for a specific religious congregation, but also for immigrants from different religious and community affiliations who have access to a wide range of programs at this center. I was, therefore, able to construct a sample that approximated a purposeful one, i.e., one that fulfilled the most significant theoretical and methodological criteria of my research. Accordingly, I relied on a sample that included an adequate mix of male and female recent, low skill Mexican immigrants, most of which were officially “illegal workers” and were not proficient in English.

DATA COLLECTION The primary methods of data collection included participant and nonparticipant observation as well as in-depth interviewing. My field observations took place in the Doraville and Chamblee areas, mostly at La Misión Católica, but also at specific public locations on Buford


45

Highway (one of the main avenues along which the neighborhoods of Doraville and Chamblee spread) where male Mexican and Central American immigrants regularly gather in search of day labor. As an observer at La Misión, my role closely approximated what Adler and Adler (1987) designate as “observer-interactant.” I find this term appropriate to describe my approach, since it makes it explicit that, as a “participant observer,” my role entailed interaction with my informants, rather than direct participation in their activities at the place. Thus, my strategy involved making my identity known, while striving to develop an open-ended, flexible exchange with the study participants. To this end, I used to visit La Misión every day for a period of three months, staying for an average of eight hours each time. Given that observational methods involve the investigator as both researcher and “instrument” of data gathering, my strategy was to assume the stance of “learner.” Specifically, my approach was to “hang around” and start informal conversations with immigrants who came to mass, to use the shower, or to receive ESL lessons or health care at the clinic. My role as observer in public settings along Buford Highway was more detached, clearly fitting the “non-participant observation” method of data collection. Not only were conversations with immigrants excluded from this experience, but also other forms of un-spoken interaction, given that in most cases I conducted my observations at a distance in order to make my presence inconspicuous. The purpose of these observations was to become familiar with the way migrant workers search for temporary jobs with contractors hiring day laborers at various street intersections along Buford Highway. My decision to remain a detached observer derived from the gendered character of street intersections and public places where male immigrant workers are the job seekers. As documented by most experts in field research, “who” the researcher is often creates obstacles to the acquisition of reliable data. On this topic, Lofland and Lofland (1995) observe: During the last ten years or so, the many writings on fieldwork have, with increasing attention and sensitivity, documented the myriad contexts and situations in which ascriptive categories (especially sex) can throw up barriers to the acquisition of rich data (p. 24).

46


Since a significant number of the workers I interviewed at La Misión had had the experience of looking for jobs in public places, their narratives helped me interpret and put in context my non-participant observations along Buford Highway. Excerpts from these interviews, in addition to an extensive discussion of “la esquina” as a site for job seeking, are included in later chapters, which will further clarify the special character of this setting. I conducted observations in open areas along Buford Highway five non-consecutive times during the three months that I was involved in research in the field. I took detailed field notes of my observations both at La Misión and at las esquinas, some of which are included as excerpts that helped to put the interview data in perspective. With only three exceptions, in depth interviews were conducted at La Misión. The specifics of the interview process will be described in detail in the next section. Concerning the instrument, my conversations with the immigrants were based on a loosely structured list of topics (see Appendix I) that corresponded with my research objectives. The wording and sequence were entirely flexible, following the course, pace, and intensity of the conversation. The main topics in this interview guide were the following: • • •

•

• •

Socio-demographic characteristics. Migration history, both between Mexico and the U.S. and within the U.S. territory. Personal networks in the U.S. and Atlanta, including relatives, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances at the time arrival, as well as relationships developed in the receiving society. Type and amount of assistance provided by members of the respondent’s personal networks upon arrival in Atlanta, including money, shelter, transportation, and employment information and referral. Job seeking strategies, both formal and informal. Employment outcomes, including type of employment, salary and benefits, status, schedule, stability, mobility ladders, and job satisfaction.


47

Prior to each interview, study participants were given the opportunity to read or have myself read to them an explanation of the purpose of the interview, along with issues of anonymity and confidentiality. I requested their verbal, rather than written, consent for safety reasons, given that most were undocumented workers at the time of our conversation. All interviews were carried out in Spanish and audio taped. Their duration ranged between 45 minutes and one and a half hours. I collected my data between May and September of 1999. The connections I made during my initial visits, including the parish priest and program leaders, were crucial in gaining access to potential study participants at La Misión. During my first days in the field, they often introduced me to community members and parishioners who regularly attended mass at La Misión. In most cases, they would include me in informal conversations with immigrants who used to visit and socialize at the center or waited to receive services at the clinic. Immigrant’s suspicion of my presence, as investigator, seems to have been significantly reduced by the fact that my contacts were well regarded in the community. This helped me to build a non-threatening image and to develop a good level of rapport with my study participants during my fieldwork. After a few weeks in the field, I realized that I had become a familiar face amongst regular visitors at La Misión. Approaching potential informants at the clinic’s waiting room was, generally, a helpful recruitment strategy. The clinic was open between 9:00 a.m. and noon on Tuesdays and Thursdays and accepted patients on a “walk-in” basis. Given that most customers usually had to wait for more than an hour to receive health care, the waiting room provided a site to start conversation with immigrants and obtain their consent for an interview. During my first month in the field, I was more successful recruiting male than female informants. Except for the days in which the clinic was open, men tended to outnumber women at La Misión. This was especially the case in the afternoons, when manual workers took turns to use the shower. Moreover, male immigrants in search of employment, part-time or day laborers, and construction workers who were not at work due to rain on a particular day, were more likely than their female counterparts to stay around and spend time at La Misión socializing with other fellow immigrants. From my observations and

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informal conversations, I noticed that women tended to come to La Misión to fulfill a specific need or with a particular purpose, such as receiving health care at the clinic, attending mass, receiving ESL classes, and the like. Their stay was usually more limited than men’s. Many came with small children, which reduced even more their availability. Lack of availability was compounded with issues of trust amongst female immigrants. I received more rejections from females than males and, in general, female immigrants tended to express more doubts about their participation in the study. After having completed several interviews and become familiar with the immigrants’ experiences, I attributed this pattern to men’s greater mobility relative to women and their familiarity with people outside their personal networks. As the coming chapters will illustrate, men were more likely than women to move between cities and across states, depending on employment opportunities. Aside from a few cases of immigrants who declined my request for an interview, the process of data collection was fluid. I approached my informants with a courteous, yet casual attitude, trying to be sensitive to their concerns, but to avoid the risk of becoming overly conscious of my “outsider” status. This strategy seems to have been instrumental in building rapport with the study participants. My relative degree of success in collecting rich and reliable data is supported by the fact that the immigrants were willing to talk and granted me access to their lives and emotions. Contrary to my expectations, respondents were open about their immigration status and spoke frankly about their use of fake documents during their job search. In addition to discussing their experiences and hardships in the U.S. labor market, many immigrants shared with me their, often painful, stories during migration. The following case illustrates this point: Osvaldo: I mean …first, we took a guide [hired a person to help them cross the border]. We walked like two, three days in the hills, without …drinking water, without eating …[The person who was supposed to take us across] did not come to pick us. There were about 40 people waiting …they did not carry water, did not carry food. But …in my case …since my sister had already told me that the water was not to fill up our


49

stomachs, but to wet our throat and eat some cookies …After that we got bored waiting and came out because we saw that we were not going to be able to cross. María Luisa Amado (MLA): Where were you all staying? That is, when you say that you came out, where were you? Osvaldo: In the hills …So we came down, like that, to be caught by the “migra,” because we were too hungry and thirsty and we had no more water. There were people with the group we were traveling …there were 4 children who were like …3-4 years old. I tried not to become too desperate, I mean, anyway, if I didn’t cross I still had a job in Mexico. So …I came down the hill and by that time 10 people had already come down. We talked with the guy who was the guide and he said, “they are going to send us back!” And, in fact, we were caught by the “migra” and were sent back right away. By that time we took another [guide], one we found there, on the road, once we arrived in the bus terminal, and he told us, “I will cross you quickly!” And that one …he did take us across the next day, in 10 minutes we were already on this side … Several interviews were also punctuated with expressions of emotion. A significant number of informants, including both men and women, shed tears during our conversation. The discussion chapters include several instances of respondents who broke in tears during the interview. As I had anticipated, the sequence and length of each interview was unique to every case. Issues relating to my main research objectives, i.e., the informant’s networking strategies, were at the center of my line of questioning. In some cases, the narratives contained a complete profile of the respondent’s network, including the presence or absence of acquaintances, neighbors, friends, and relatives in their web of relationships. In those instances, I did not ask specific questions about these issues in order to prevent redundancy. Thus, I did not ask exactly the same questions in every interview, but I collected information from all informants about their networks. Overall, I was able to gain acceptance, cultivate reciprocal trust, and negotiate an optimal level of cooperation at La Misión. The results

50


of my fieldwork are amply described and discussed in the coming chapters.

DATA ANALYSES After completing the fieldwork, interviews were transcribed in their entirety. The organization, classification, and coding of the data was done by means of ATLAS.ti, a computer program for qualitative analysis. This program was specifically used for the purpose of microanalysis, constructing categories and subcategories, and identifying meaningful relationships between them through axial coding. The analyses included both cross-case analysis and case studies. The most significant theoretical categories and subcategories that derived from the analysis were the following: •

Network ties/relationships in the receiving society Relatives Friends Neighbors in Mexico Acquaintances (Mexico-born) Acquaintances (U.S.-born) None

•

Time in the U.S. and time in Atlanta One month or less More than one month but less than three More than three months but less than six More than six months but less than one year More than one year but less than two More than two but less than five years More than five and up to ten years

•

Job seeking method Formal - Employment agency - Newspaper adds - Walk- ins - Radio


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Flyers Informal - Word of mouth though relatives - Word of mouth through friends - Word of mouths through co-ethnic neighbors - Word of mouth through co-ethnic co-workers - Word of mouth through non-ethnics acquaintances or coworkers -

•

Time searching for a job One week or less More than one week but less than two More than two weeks but less than one month One month or more

•

Employment outcomes Job category Employment status (part-time/full-time) Job stability (permanent/temporary) Job duration Salary and benefits Personal assessment of/satisfaction level with the job

The case studies, included in the last discussion chapter, illustrate the main employment paths followed by the interviewed immigrants, according to networking strategies. They also illustrate other relevant dimensions that emerged during the analysis, such as gender, as it relates to job-seeking methods and employment outcomes among Mexican immigrant workers in Atlanta.


CHAPTER 4

Profile of the Informants

SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS The study sample was composed of 40 Mexican immigrants, including 22 men and 18 women, who were currently residing in metropolitan Atlanta. The youngest person in the sample (Jorge) was 18 years of age, and the oldest (Hernan and Lorena) were 50 years old. Whereas four informants were over 45 years of age, most interviewees were young to middle-aged adults, between the ages of 20 and 40. On average, women were slightly older than their male counterparts, with a mean age of 32.2, as compared to 29.6 for men. Half of the informants were married with children and seven were single parents who were divorced, widowed, or never married. There seems to be no predominant sending community for Mexican workers residing in Atlanta. The sampled immigrants originated in various cities and towns in Mexico. There was, however, significant variation in the level of formal education of the immigrants, ranging from illiteracy to college education. Yet, in general, most informants were relatively highly educated. More than half had completed high school and 18 had at least some level of post-secondary education (college or “preparatoria,” i.e. pre-college). There were some variations in educational attainment according to gender. Almost 70% of the men had at least a high school degree, compared to 80% of the women. However, in terms of English language skills, only four informants indicated that they were able to maintain a conversation in English. Furthermore, three of the four informants who were proficient in English at the time of the interview indicated that they had improved their English after having lived for a few years in the U.S. One informant, Cristóbal, pointed out that his first language was Nahualt, rather than Spanish. 53

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Despite their school training and qualifications, most informants had not held professional or semi-professional jobs in Mexico. Only two interviewees, a man and a woman, were working as professionals, as an engineer and psychologist, respectively. The large majority had been performing unskilled labor as maintenance workers, truck drivers, private domestic servants, field workers, construction workers, or salespeople in small stores in Mexico. One of the male informants reported that he had worked as a coyote1 for several years. Among the women, two had never worked for wages before coming to the U.S.

MIGRATION HISTORY Most informants were recent immigrants who had arrived in the U.S. no more than five years before the time of our conversation. The most recent immigrant among the interviewees was Josefa, from Guerrero, who had been in the U.S. for only 15 days. Of all interviewed immigrants, 29 had been living in the U.S. for five or fewer years, and 15 had arrived within the last 12 months. In a number of cases, the informants had lived for a few years in various other U.S. cities and had recently moved to Atlanta. Original destinations other than Georgia included California, Arizona, Texas, North Carolina, Florida, and New York. However, the majority had migrated directly to Atlanta, where often times they had relatives who had already established in this part of the country. Geographic mobility within the U.S. was quite common among male immigrants, particularly those working as temporary farm workers in orange groves or subcontracted by construction companies doing business in different states. Sojourners in farm labor usually moved between Georgia, Florida, and North Carolina. Those working in the construction industry had a wider range of mobility. Some had moved from the Southwest and Midwest to Atlanta and back. However, many construction workers tended to operate primarily in the Southeast. Amongst migrant laborers who had found temporary jobs through 1. Name given to people who make their living by helping undocumented Mexican immigrants cross the border between Mexico and the U.S.


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employment agencies, geographic mobility was also common, since the unstable nature of their work required them to move to different places where jobs were available each week. In these cases, the agencies mediating between job applicants and employers tended to operate within the Southeastern region and, quite often, in different locations within the state of Georgia. In general, the sampled women were less mobile and their relocations were limited to places where they had relatives or friends to support them upon arrival. As to the factors behind the decision to migrate, almost all immigrants cited economic hardships in Mexico as their primary motivation. Typical statements made by the informants in this regard included: “The situation over there [in Mexico] is quite hard …” “Over there, in Mexico, we feel that the money we make …is not enough to survive …” “The money you earn here in a week, there [in Mexico] you would earn in a month.” “According to what I heard, there were plenty of jobs here …” Onorio, one of several informants who had been moving back and forth between Mexico and the U.S. over a period of five years, summarized immigrants' motivations and feelings in this regard: Onorio: Economic need, basically. Because there is …terrible poverty in Mexico. Most people come here …precisely trying to escape poverty …what we earn [in Mexico] is barely enough to get by, even more when there are children. That's the way it is. Jacinto provides another typical example of the situations that encourage Mexicans to move to the U.S.: Jacinto: Because …in the economic front …[we endured] hunger …my family did not have resources …There were some resources but …provided by my older siblings. I am the youngest. And …I decided to leave home and come here … “Why are you leaving?” They said. “You'll go there to get lost in vices such as drugs. It would be better if you registered in school here.” “No [I said]. Here, education is not worth much. My siblings are educated. They have university degrees. I have not even completed high school and my siblings are

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market earning less than me. So …the money that I make here in onetwo hours, they would make in a week …”

Informants with relatively high levels of education agreed with Jacinto's view about the low returns to education in the Mexican labor market. In general, the desire to find good jobs in the U.S., make higher wages to sustain their families in Mexico, and improve their living standards, was a common theme among the interviewees, regardless of school level. In most cases, the decision to migrate to specific destinations in the U.S. in pursuit of these goals was stimulated and mediated by relatives, friends, and neighbors already living in the U.S. Many informants came to Atlanta with the support of family members or friends who offered housing accommodations, volunteered to help in seeking employment, and, in a few cases, arranged for immediate employment in specific jobs upon arrival in Atlanta. The picture of well being and economic success often painted by returning immigrants in their respective hometowns in Mexico was also a common incentive to undertake the journey to the U.S. Jeremías: …it was an experience, I mean, trying to live my own experience at the time [of migration] …After seeing all those people arriving in Ciudad Juarez …they would come with money and would squander it …buying one car today, another tomorrow …They would talk about all the beautiful things in the U.S…. that you could make plenty of money there … I wanted to live that experience and I've lived it. I …I ventured … Most married women in the sample indicated that they had come to the U.S. to join their husbands. Although many also spoke about lack of economic opportunities in Mexico, they seem to have been only marginally involved in the decision to migrate. As an economic strategy, the decision to move to the U.S. was made chiefly by their partners. Furthermore, married women often acknowledged that they had come unwillingly, urged on by husbands who were already established in the U.S. Thus, family rather than economic considerations appeared to drive married women to undertake the journey across the border.


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With a few exceptions, most informants perceived their stay in the U.S. as a temporary situation. This view was shared by many immigrants who stated their intentions to save money, return to Mexico, and buy property, build a house, or set up a small business in their homelands. The desire to move back to Mexico was also suggested or implicit in the various narratives, as the informants evaluated their overall migration experience and, often, advised other compatriots not to come at all. “Que ni vengan” (I would encourage them not to come) was a common response when I asked informants what advice they could give a friend in Mexico who was planning to migrate north. The following excerpt illustrates this point well: Lisa: Ay! It's quite difficult! Because …well …from the beginning it was hard for me, for example, leaving my kids, although they are now grown and stuff but …it was quite hard leaving them …And …on the other hand …the first thing I tell my son, listen: here it is not just a matter of arriving and getting a job and making money, it's quite hard …it's a good trade-off because. if you send money to Mexico, obviously you would triple it, right? But, even so, it's not as easy as they say. I wish it were that easy! Forget it! I think this country would not belong to Americans, but to Mexicans. Thus, for me, the advice would be to have ambition; well, the desire to prosper, but to think [about the decision to migrate] quite well, because one does suffer … [Lisa starts to cry] Mainly because of being away from family …In terms of work, one makes good money, but one also has to spend a lot, because here we do not buy with “pesos,” but with dollars. And it turns out to be exactly the same. So, well …my wish is to stay not five or six years, but two or three only, at most, and to be able to return [to Mexico]. Because …what can I tell you …the absence [of my family] is too much. Although many interviewees expressed their desire to return to Mexico, the experience of various informants who had been in the U.S. for over a decade, sometimes moving back and forth across the border, suggests that many tend to stay longer than they had anticipated. In a quite a few cases, the informants were compelled to return to the U.S.

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after a year or two in Mexico, due to economic constraints similar to those that motivated the first trip. In their subsequent journeys across the U.S. border, ties with other labor migrants had already been created, thus making successive migrations more feasible and resettlement smoother and less expensive. One of the interesting findings of my research is that immigration status should be studied as a multi-categorical, rather than dichotomous, variable. In spite of their formal status as either documented or undocumented migrants, I found that my informants’ creative survival strategies in the host society produce a myriad of categories that correspond with different degrees of legality or illegality in terms of immigration status. Based on my field observations, I found four distinct categories: legal, illegal but documented, chuecos (having fake documents), and illegal. The first category, “legal,” includes immigrants who have valid visas and work permits that allow them to stay in the U.S. and participate freely in the labor market. Only three of the interviewed immigrants were in this category. In fact, one of them had been legal in the past, but failed to renew his green card. “Illegal but documented” denotes the status of immigrants who entered the country legally, with a valid visitor's visa, but stayed beyond the time limit stipulated by immigration authorities. The significance of this category is that passports and visas could be and were often used as legitimate personal identifications for job-seeking purposes, in places where employers required only one identity document. In several instances, a valid passport and tourist visa was all informants were required to present in order to get a driver's license or even a social security card. Five of my informants fit within this category. “Papeles chuecos,” on the other hand, is the term used by my informants to designate false social security and work-permit documents.2 In conversations with various immigrants, I discovered that the

2. I had the opportunity to take a look at one of these counterfeit social security cards and compare it with mine. Side by side, the false card could be identified because it had poorer quality paper and printing.


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production and sale of false social security cards and green cards (what they call “papeles chuecos”) is an on-going underground business that immigrants are quite familiar with and use extensively. In the Doraville and Chamblee neighborhoods in Atlanta, such clandestine activities normally take place in “ethnic” shopping malls and small businesses along Bufford Highway. According to my informants, it is a common practice among employers in small restaurants and retail stores to hire illegal migrants despite their fake papers. In fact, many of the informants had been able to obtain and change jobs by presenting their papeles chuecos. However, according to one of the informants, these fictitious documents were less likely to be accepted by large, mainstream organizations, like the Latin American Association, which provides employment allocation services mostly to legal immigrants, and whose officials seem to have a way of differentiating between fake and genuine documents. Although only nine of my informants reported that they had obtained such false documents, it is possible that some decided not to share this information with me. The final category is that of “illegals,” which includes immigrants who were undocumented according to immigration laws and lacked passports, social security cards, driver's license, or green cards, genuine or fake. The majority of the interviewed workers were in this group. Although there was roughly the same proportion of men and women in each category, it seems that, for women, it normally took longer to learn where and how to use the clandestine services of people selling false papers.

NETWORK CONNECTIONS UPON ARRIVAL IN THE HOST SOCIETY All but five informants had strong ties in the U.S., with relatives or friends and often times both at the time of migration. However, there was some variation in the strength of such family and friendship ties. For instance, many immigrants migrated not only with the assistance but also with the encouragement and explicit invitation of friends and However, I had the impression that it may be hard to recognize the counterfeit document at a simple glance.

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relatives already established in the U.S. Among those who came on their own initiative, some had consistently kept in touch, before migrating, with their relatives in the U.S., whereas others maintained, at most, sporadic communication. Furthermore, some informants had not even been aware of the presence or location of relatives in the U.S. until the time of their departure. Thus, they relied on friends or neighbors from their hometown, rather than their relatives, for guidance and support at the time of migration. In some cases, the interviewees maintained regular contact with their relatives, but experienced a cold or even unwelcoming reception by their families upon arrival in the U.S. In this regard, the most obvious variations followed gender lines. Typically, women migrated to the U.S. under the auspices of close relatives, such as husbands, siblings, cousins, uncles, or in-laws. Many came with the monetary support of such relatives, who often felt a strong sense of obligation and responsibility toward their newly arrived relatives. The following example is typical: MLA: And …here …your relatives living here, your cousin, brother in-law, and siblings, were they waiting for you here? Were they aware that you were coming? Josefa: Yes, they were waiting for me. MLA: And once you arrived, have they helped you in any ways? Josefa: They helped me buying me clothes as soon as I arrived. They took me to buy clothes, ah …they gave me money to …to buy whatever I wanted to buy. They've helped me a lot in that regard. In the course of our conversation, Josefa also indicated that her relatives, with whom she had been staying since her arrival, provided her with food, transportation, and advice while she continued to familiarize herself with the city of Atlanta. Yet such extensive support had mixed consequences for several women in the sample. In this regard, Josefa represents the typical circumstances for single women. Married women, as shown earlier, often followed their partners and traveled to the U.S. with the support and explicit encouragement of


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their husbands, who had migrated and settled in the U.S. first. Thus, their spouses not only represented a strong tie and a point of reference in the receiving community, but they also provided a framework for their incorporation and adjustment in the host society. Although several male informants also migrated with the assistance and advice of close relatives, men seemed more likely than women to cross the border without the guaranteed support of family members in the U.S. Many immigrants were encouraged by the stories told by friends who had successfully found employment in the U.S. In a small number of cases, male informants impulsively took the chance of crossing the border after learning about the successful experiences of neighbors from their hometown. In such cases, they usually arrive in the U.S. without having established any communications with their relations or acquaintances in the host country. The impact and implications of each of these scenarios on network formation and job-search in the receiving society will be analyzed in depth in the following chapters.


CHAPTER 5

Weak and Strong Ties in the Immigrant Network

REDEFINING STRONG AND WEAK TIES Given the centrality of social networks during migration, the migrant context offers fertile grounds to examine the way immigrants redefine old relationships, develop new ties, and attach meaning to their various network connections. While Granovetter's definition of strong and weak ties provides the basic framework for my analysis, the narratives of my informants suggest that dichotomous classifications of tiestrength (i.e., weak or strong) overshadow the fluidity of social relationships amongst Mexican immigrants. They also indicate that the number, strength, and meaning attached to network ties vary by gender. In turn, my findings redress existing conceptualizations of strong and weak ties and corroborate that social networks are gendered, i.e., they tend to evolve along gender lines. In this chapter, I examine the composition of Mexican immigrants’ social networks, highlight gender variations, and illustrate the rich overtones and immigrants’ networks based on my informants' subjective definitions of tie-strength. For Granovetter, the strength of a tie is a “ …combination of the amount of time, the emotional intensity, the intimacy (mutual confiding) and the reciprocal services which characterize the tie” (Granovetter 1973: 1361). Drawing on this definition, most empirical studies identify relations with relatives and close friends as strong ties and relations with acquaintances as weak ties. Although emotional intimacy and reciprocity are essential to the notion of “closeness,” operational definitions typically use only frequency of interaction as the indicator of tie strength. For example, Granovetter's study of jobchangers in Boston (1970) used frequency of contact (often, 63

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occasionally, or rarely) as evidence of the strength of ties. Furthermore, he proposed that, by definition, there is a tendency of stronger ties to involve larger time commitments (Granovetter 1973: 1362). Amongst immigrants, however, the subjective meanings that they attach to their various relationships are quite relevant in order to understand the operation and function of their networks. As with the workers in Granovetter's study, immigrant workers' relations with relatives and long-term friends typically involve emotional intimacy and mutual commitment. Often, however, similar bonds develop amongst recent acquaintances, neighbors, housemates, and co-workers. Bound together by common in the host society, recent immigrants are quick to cultivate ties of affinity and solidarity. Jorge, who had been in Atlanta for only two months by the time of our conversation, illustrated well the typical dynamics of network formation and tie strengthening amongst recent Mexican immigrants. Like most of the immigrants, Jorge came to Atlanta without documents, under the auspices of a friend from his native town of San Luis Potosí. His friend extended him an invitation to come to Atlanta, lent him money for the journey, and hosted him from the date of his arrival until the time of my interview with him. It was also thanks to this friend that Jorge started to work hanging sheet rock the day after he arrived in Atlanta. However, soon he moved to a second job in carpentry with the aid of “friends” whom he had just made. He explained: Jorge: [I found my second job …] With the help of friends. That is through friends, yes. I mean …through neighbors that, well … MLA: Friends you had made in Mexico? Jorge: No, whom …whom I met here. I met them here. MLA: That means that right from the first week you arrived in Atlanta you started to make friends? How did you meet these friends? Jorge: They are neighbors. That is, they are from my town. “Hey, so and so has arrived from such and such town …oh, yes, in fact.” Generally, there are 6-8 people in an apartment. Then these people …some work with different employers.


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Yes. Then one hears, well, there is a vacancy, we need one person to help us. And that's how they send somebody. “Ah! You know what? I know a guy who doesn't have a job. Let's bring him!” He added, “The trick is to meet people…” [I advise newcomers] “to start moving within the Latino community.” As shown in this passage, the strength of relationships among recent immigrants is indicated not by the longevity of the relationship, but by the level of solidarity and disposition to help. For example, according to Granovetter, the flow of “reciprocal services,” is a basic element of the strength of network ties. Both the intensity and the extent of reciprocal exchanges that characterize the relationship are relevant to my central question, i.e., whether strong ties are richer sources of job information than weak ties. As indicated by several interviewees, the support and services provided by recent acquaintances are not limited to information and job referrals. They include housing, food, and money. Hence, they involve and require a degree of trust and solidarity that is normally expected amongst long-term friends. Alberto's case illustrates this point. After having worked consecutively in various jobs in North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida for a period of one and a half years, he decided to move back to Georgia in search of better-paying and more stable employment opportunities. He paid for his trip to Atlanta with the help of a co-worker he had met in Florida, with whom he had developed ties of friendship and trust within a few months. MLA: Given that your boss in Florida had not paid you, how did you manage to travel to Atlanta? Alberto: Well, because I know a friend, from that same place; from that place named Augburn Park. Yes. I met many Mexican friends there. They are only young guys. Yes. MLA: You mean, you met these friends here, or you had met them in Mexico? Alberto: No, I had not known them in Mexico. I met them here. One of them is called Martin and the other …the other we call “El Grillo,” that's his nickname. Yes. And I told

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market Martin, “look Martin …I'm leaving, I'm going to work in that place where I was before with another employer.” And he said, “Well, I don't know, as you wish. Do you have money for the trip?” “No” I said. And he said, “Look, I don't have a family, I don't have a wife, I don't have children. I am single, and whatever I earn I just use for my drinks only …” He's still a young man. He said, “If you wish, I can lend you a hundred 'barros' [dollars], and then, whenever you want, some day we'll see each other again.” And he gave me $100 and “El Grillo,” that other boy, gave me $20 too. And I took a bus to Atlanta.

Although the occupational and geographic mobility of Mexican labor migrants makes their relationships intermittent and unstable, their inclination to trust other Mexican immigrants tends to strengthen their ties. The level of reciprocity among sojourning immigrants is both sign and function of their embeddedness in a close-knit network. Even though many of the interviewed workers were constantly moving from state to state, and their friendship networks were not stable, they tended to operate within the boundaries of the co-ethnic community. Within their extended, yet dense, immigrant networks, knowledge about jobs and services circulated more fluidly than outside their community. Their sources of information and referral were trustworthy, and acquaintances and friends tended to overlap. Jorge's report (“Hey, so and so has arrived from such and such town …Ah, I know a guy who doesn't have a job …let's bring him”) illustrates this point well. In general, the stories told by the workers revealed that their lives revolve around a thick web of co-ethnic relations. This observation is relevant to the discussion of tie strength within immigrant networks, since dense social networks are generally founded on strong ties. Juana's testimony provided further insight into the meaning that relationships amongst co-ethnics carry for recent immigrants. She came to Atlanta two months before the time of our interview, to take care of her ill husband who was already working there. Due to her husband's condition, Juana anticipated that he would return to Mexico before her, while she stayed working in order to save some money. But she wanted to move to a different neighborhood in Atlanta, a place that could provide her with a sense of community and family. In her view, the coethnic network was crucial.


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MLA: Are you planning to return to Mexico? Juana: Yes. MLA: What about your husband? Juana: Same thing. Yes, what happens is that right now we are thinking that we only need to save some money and he will go first. But before, I would move to another place; to the place where my country people are, because here where I am right now, they're from elsewhere. They are from Ecuador. Thus, we are trying to save a little money so that he returns to Mexico to stay and I follow him later. MLA: So, you're telling me that you would move to a different place while you are still here? Juana: Yes. MLA: How would moving make your situation different? In what ways would this help you? Juana: Well, I would feel more …more in family, because I know many of them … MLA: Is the place where your country people live very far away? Do you visit them some times? Juana: No…no …I have not been able to visit them …since we don't have a car. It's difficult. They are all in Marietta. As such examples show, the extent and frequency of interaction takes second place to perceived trustworthiness within a familiar setting. Stack's (1970) description of cooperative alliances among the ghetto poor is relevant in this regard. The disenfranchisement and vulnerability of recent, often undocumented, immigrants is analogous to the living conditions of ghetto residents, whose supporting networks are “the collective adaptations to poverty of men, women, and children” (Stack 1970: 28). Among the interviewed immigrants, paisanaje (i.e., common national origin) appears to be a significant factor enhancing trust and reciprocity. Against the background of alienation generally experienced within a new environment, co-ethnic relations tend to become a binding tie and an enabling source of social

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capital. This observation lends support to Massey's (1991) arguments about migrant networks. Massey asserts that human relations among Mexican immigrants “…are transformed into a set of social relations the meaning of which is defined within the migrant context. Shared understandings develop about what it means to be a friend, relative, or neighbor within a community of migrants, and eventually these understandings crystallize into a web of interrelationships that constitute the migrant network.” This assertion implies that the character of network ties among immigrants is unique to the migrant context. For example, neighborly relations involve a set of obligations that strengthen the tie between the neighbors and, at the same time, recast conventional definitions of strong ties and weak ties. “Migrant networks,” explains Massey, “grow out of universal relations that are adapted to the special circumstances of international migration. The relations are not created by the migratory process, but molded to it, and over time they are strengthened by the common bond of the migrant experience itself” (Massey 1991: 470). However, the narratives of my informants also reveal that the redefinition and strengthening of network ties within the immigrant context is not an automatic process. Sharing a common background and similar circumstances may not always translate into a strong bond. Immigrants' emotional investment and subjective definitions of their various relationships seem to be an essential element in the transformation of “friendly” interactions into strong ties. Cristobal's case illustrates this point well. He came to the U.S. with no relationships, guided only by the coyote, (also known as el pollero). In North Carolina, where he obtained his first job cutting pine trees, he shared housing accommodations with other laborers working for the same employer. Relations amongst housemates were supported by a flow of reciprocal exchanges, including the sharing of domestic duties, food, information, and recreational activities. Cristobal: …when I was working in Carolina, at night, the guys would bring guitars and keyboards. They knew that I could play well. Then the party would start. Regularly we would go to a house …hmm …there were two houses where we could buy Mexican products and we could converse well…That's where we all regularly went.


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It was with the help of one such workmate that Cristobal later came to Atlanta and found housing and employment. However, he characterizes those casual but friendly relations as acquaintanceships only. MLA: Did you make friends in North Carolina, let's say, with your work mates? Or did you maintain the relationships at the level of acquaintance? Cristobal: Ah…only at the level of acquaintance. MLA: Do you stay in touch with any of them now? Cristobal: No, with nobody. Nobody …No, because I went there only to work. And some of them got to know me, but …I think that …it was not very important, unless I am going to be in a place where I need …where I'll stay longer, then I need friends. Yet, in Atlanta, where Cristobal currently resides, not all acquaintances became his friends. MLA: Did you develop a friendship with these people [those who helped him find a job in the construction industry in Atlanta], or did you continue relating to them as acquaintances only? Cristobal: Ah …not friendship. I made….kept….a good relationship …like a “cuate”3 These examples show that operational definitions of tie strength that consider only time and frequency of interaction may fail to capture the complex nature of relationships within immigrant networks. The time invested in the relationship may not always be directly correlated with emotional closeness. Amongst recent immigrants, the significance 3. Slang term commonly used in Mexico in reference to a person with whom one “hangs out,” frequently on the basis of similar interests and amicable relationships, but not intimate friendship.

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attached to the relationship is contingent upon context, circumstances, and subjective perceptions of the person's trustworthiness. All of these qualities may emerge very quickly with co-ethnics, especially those of the same nationality, region, or town. The stories told by the interviewed immigrants indicate that weak ties, on the other hand, entail relations that are not only brief and sporadic, but also impersonal, formal, and instrumental. Relationships outside the ethnic community usually fit this pattern. Interactions with gabachos or bolillos (Mexican slang for U.S. Americans) typically involve weak ties. The perception of racial prejudice toward Mexican labor migrants seemed to hinder the development of strong or, at least, “friendly” ties between my informants and their American neighbors. MLA: Have you developed friendships with any Americans while you’ve been here? Jeremías: Well …like …almost all …my circle of friends has always consisted of Hispanics, almost always, with Americans, I only relate at work …there [at work, in construction sites] I’ve heard everything …the contempt and resentment they feel towards Mexicans. [They say] that Mexicans …well …that they come to steal their money, that they come to rape, to take their women …That we are quite filthy, that we are not neat, that we are so arrogant …And, at the same time, we always have the fear of rejection on their part. In a store or any place we enter, one can sense those bad vibes they have towards us … Aside from cases like Jeremías’, who seems to have direct experience with U.S. Americans at his work place, references to U.S.born people spoke of sporadic encounters and limited interaction between gabachos and Mexican immigrants. Furthermore, most interactions with U.S. Americans took place within the work setting where U.S. nationals were contractors or supervisors, which made the relationships strongly asymmetric. A few examples illustrate this observation.


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MLA: When is it that you first came to Atlanta? Raul: Last year, but when I came last year I did not know …here …I came with a man who was already familiar with the place. The thing is that last year I …I came to Georgia and I did not know Georgia but I landed here because …they brought us on contract from Texas. A gabacho went to recruit people … MLA: What is a gabacho? Raul: An American. He went to recruit …to recruit people in Texas. He brought around 40 from Texas, where I was. And …we came here to the “pollera” [poultry plant], but …we did not like it, they paid us too little and we left. And from there we came here. MLA: Did the gabacho brought you here? Raul: No, he brought us to a place that's about two hours from here. MLA: To work in … Raul: In a pollera. MLA: And how did you meet this gabacho? Raul: As I said, he came to …to Texas to recruit people. MLA: And that's how you met him? Raul: Yes, he came to the place where I was working. The use of the term “gabacho” reflects, in and of itself, an implicit perception of U.S. nationals as foreign “others” or outsiders to the immigrant community. In general, language barriers and a widespread attitude of distrust towards any institution or member of the host society seemed to prevent the strengthening of relations between Mexican workers and U.S. Americans. Alberto: We were working with a bolillo… MLA: What does it mean to work with a bolillo?

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market Alberto: I mean there, in construction, well, I mean that a bolillo is the “patrón” [employer]. And well, another Mexican who worked with a bolillo … well …he, since we do not speak English, he translated for us.

In addition to language barriers that normally prevent direct communication between Mexican workers and U.S. Americans, the subcontracting system used in construction and agriculture makes business transactions between Mexicans and U.S. employers more indirect and, quite often, removes the U.S. contractor from any association with the workers. Alberto, whose experience working in Florida was mentioned earlier in this section, provides a good example of the typical level of interaction between U.S. Americans and Mexican workers. Alberto: …I told [my Mexican boss] “Look: do you remember when I started to work here, I said “ …you only gave me $100.00, I don't know if you can give me the rest now,” ‘cause I need to send money to Mexico.” “No,” he said. “The bolillo has not paid me the rest of that money.” And then he said, “And I think that there will be no 'jale' [work] for you.” I said, “Well, if there will be no jale for me, then pay me my hours, the two days that I worked, it's 38 hours.” I said, “Pay me!” “No” he said, “the problem is that the bolillo has not paid, until Saturday, until Friday.” As this case shows, the bolillo is often an anonymous, absentee employer who has no direct obligations to workers and is out of reach for the laborer. With the exception of some Mexican subcontractors, employers were usually seen with suspicion. In the case of the Mexican boss or subcontractor, the strength of the relationship seemed to be subject to negotiation and mostly depended on the degree of solidarity that the boss displayed towards his workers. As with Alberto and his Mexican supervisor, the exploitative character of labor relations between the workers and their co-ethnic bosses created weak and often oppositional relationships. Yet, in several cases, Mexican employers or managers became a source of material assistance and were thus perceived as more deserving of trust


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than non-Mexican employers. For example, Lisandro, from Hidalgo, Mexico, developed friendly relations with his boss in construction and relied on him for help when English translation was needed. MLA: What if you needed to go to some place where you had to speak in English …was there somebody among your friends who spoke English and could help you with this? Lisandro: Mmm …yes …The person with whom I worked. MLA: Was he Mexican? Lisandro: Yes, he was Mexican. MLA: Who was he …? Your boss? Lisandro: Yes, he was my boss. MLA: Was he a subcontractor? Lisandro: Yes. MLA: Was he from your hometown? Lisandro: From nearby. MLA: Did you two become friends? Lisandro: A bit. Although relations between immigrant workers and their co-ethnic employers or subcontractors were rather weak, there were varying levels of interpersonal connection between laborer and boss. With more symmetrical relations, i.e., among co-workers, language barriers and differing national/ethnic backgrounds also created boundaries and kept relations superficial. A good example of weak ties with non-Latinas in the work place is provided by Paula’s description of her various acquaintances in her second job in Atlanta. She left her first job as a waitress due to her lack of English proficiency and the discomfort she experienced when interacting with English-speaking co-workers, supervisors, and clients. However, in her second job in a cotton factory, she was able to establish congenial relations with her Latina workmates, whose fellowship excluded non-Latina co-workers.

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market Paula: [In this second job] …we were more Latinas and …and Orientals [Asians]. Then I did a bit better … MLA: What was different? What aspects of your experience in your first and second jobs would you compare? Paula: Well, look: for example, the difference there was that you did not have to talk much. The only time we had for conversation was the time of …of the meals and …and there were, as I said, there were Latinas, and it wasn't one, but several.. And then we would sit in separate tables, right? One table with Latinas and the other with Orientals and …and I remember that the black woman, the supervisor, she was there but also, like, she would stay away from those circles because she did not speak Spanish…

The importance of perceived intimacy and friendship in defining the strength of a tie becomes more ostensible in the narratives of the women. Even though common language and national origin were often catalysts for friendly relations, women appeared less likely than men to turn acquaintances (neighbors, housemates, or colleagues) into friends. Lorena, for instance, came to the U.S. with the guidance and assistance of a neighbor from Gilberto Peña, her town of residence in Mexico. Although she relied on this neighbor for help in entering and settling in the U.S., her narrative depicts the relation as weak or limited in scope. MLA: Did you know anybody when you came the first time? Lorena: No. I only knew …the guy with whom I crossed the border …and his brother. MLA: You said they were your neighbors? Lorena: They are my neighbors. Lorena's perception of her neighbors may be influenced by the abrupt break-up of their relationship. After a short period as housemates in the U.S., they had a dispute and Lorena moved in with a Chicana (U.S.-born with Mexican parents) who became a supportive housemate, yet Lorena would consider her an acquaintance rather than a friend.


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Lorena: …they helped me a lot. The people I lived with were very good people; I did not even pay them rent … MLA: They were your friends or your relatives? Lorena: They were acquaintances. The lady was American, of Mexican parents, and her husband completely American. MLA: How did you meet her? Lorena: I met her …I met her through a friend. That man introduced me to this American lady …And I lived there with her and then I said, “Carmen, let me give you money for electricity.” “No, no, no,” she said. When I did not have to go to work she would take me around to the stores and the parks. She was a very good person. Lorena was one of the few interviewed women who arrived in the U.S. with few ties, i.e., without the help of relatives or close friends. In most cases, the interviewed women moved to the U.S. with the support of their family, and many came reluctantly at the request of their husbands. However, their networking opportunities and strategies were, in most cases, different from those of their male counterparts. In the course of my conversations with female immigrants, I was puzzled by the frequency with which people whom the women had met coincidentally, in the streets of Atlanta, featured as “the person who had been most helpful” when it came to obtaining job information and referrals. Even though most women relied on their strong ties for migration and settlement, many were prompted to rely on previously unknown people for employment. These were often Spanish-speakers, whom the immigrants met by chance in the streets, public transport, or supermarkets, and with whom they did not maintain communication after the first, at most, second meeting. Moreover, such strangers met accidentally in public places did not become an integral part of the immigrants’ stable networks. Unlike the acquaintances that male immigrants made while looking for day labor in street corners, the relationships of female immigrants with strangers met in public places were short-lived. No matter how fortuitous and ephemeral, these coincidental encounters seemed to be quite central in the narratives of various

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female immigrants. Thus, they represent a special form of weak ties amongst immigrants looking for jobs in Atlanta, which I labeled a “peripheral tie,” given their marginal position in the immigrant’s network. Ana, from Acapulco, for example, found several temporary jobs through such accidental meetings while riding MARTA, the Atlanta public transportation system. MLA: Did you know or have relations with your neighbors? Ana: Yes, I did know some of them. MLA: Did they ever help you to look for a job or gave you any job information? Ana: No …no. Only people whom I saw in MARTA or like …like in places, like that. MLA: Did you normally ask for job information in the MARTA buses? Ana: Yes, I used to ask there. MLA: And what about the people from your neighborhood? Why did they not help? Ana: No, no …there was nobody who could give me any reference …The only way was to ride …to ride the bus, in MARTA …Some lady …I met her in MARTA and she told me about a job that was over there and …and I had to go and …and I applied, but they did not hire me …I never knew why …since I don't …I mean … MLA: Did you go to talk to this lady at the place where she was working? Ana: Yes, but after that I never saw her again and she never called me back. Ana's case, whose contact failed to call her back, suggests that the relationship between female immigrants and the people they randomly met in public places tended to be rather unequal and unilateral. In fact, there seemed to be no sense of obligation between the parties. In this type of situation, immigrants seemed to approach co-nationals or other


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Latin Americans for convenience sake, rather than expecting the type of solidarity that is based on shared background. However, in several instances, these random encounters were the only or most instrumental conduits of job information and referral for the interviewed women. Even though Ana was unsuccessful, several women among my informants found jobs by just asking strangers in the street. Isabel, from Guerrero, who spoke extensively about her disappointment with relatives and friends from her hometown, provides a typical example. MLA: How long did it take you to get a job in Atlanta? Isabel: About …I think about 15 days …or three weeks. Something like that. MLA: How did you look for jobs? Isabel: Through friends …Asking around … MLA: Friends from your hometown? Isabel: No, I mean, people that I used to meet in the street, with whom I talked and …they would tell me about some job and I would apply …My friends …friends from my hometown did not help me to look for a job, I received help from people whom I did not even know … Yes …with people whom I met in the street. Ana and Isabel’s cases exemplified the weakest ties in the immigrants’ occupational networks, i.e., ties that were short-lived, nonobliging, and rather peripheral in the informants’ web of stable relationships with relatives, friends, and acquaintances. Such sporadic connections were, in fact, weaker than what Granovetter defines as weak ties. According to Granovetter, weak ties are acquaintances; i.e., people we know, but with whom we have developed low levels of trust and intimacy. However, like strong ties, weak ties are part of the individual's network. Their distinguishing characteristic is that the parties relate formally, superficially, and sporadically, and share limited contexts of interaction (e.g., only at work, at church, at school, etc.). An unknown person whom we address in a store, a bus, or a supermarket is not part of our network. If a relationship develops or the parties negotiate the conditions for continuing, even if sporadic, interaction,

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such incidental encounters may turn into weak (or strong) ties. In most cases, however, the interviewed women seemed to be motivated by their economic needs when they took the chance of discussing their job situation with Spanish-speakers in the street. Thus, their interactions with such unknown persons were mostly instrumental and, consequently, short-lived. Even in cases like Isabel's, who was able to find employment through one such coincidental encounter, the relation did not develop or did not last. MLA: If you had to single out the person who has been most helpful to you since your arrival, who would that person be? Isabel: In this country …in terms of trust like …frankly, it's hard to say. But that person who referred me to that American restaurant [was helpful]. Only that. MLA: Did you feel that this was a person whom you could confide in or trust? Isabel: No, to be honest, no. MLA: Have you stayed in touch with this person? Isabel: No, no. I have not. Lack of support, and a resulting sense of abandonment and disillusion, appeared to be the common theme cutting across the narratives and experiences of female informants. In a number of cases, the structure or composition of the immigrant community prevented women from cultivating their connections or drawing on the resources available in their networks. Paula, mentioned earlier, represents well some of the limitations encountered by women in this regard. She came to the U.S. nearly a decade ago, when the Mexican community in Atlanta was just starting to expand and consolidate. MLA: Did you have the opportunity to start meeting people, to make friends when you arrived here? Paula: No, not really. MLA: Why not?


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Paula: Because there was nobody, that is, there wasn't …And the people who were living here were married couples. For example, it was difficult for me to have a friend of my age at that time, because people who were here were married. There weren't many single people …or people who were staying alone. You could seldom find anybody. Then men …there were men, I think, but not women …You would see young men, but not women. When I came, at that time, there were not …there were not many women. Depending on the neighborhood where they stayed, immigrant women who came more recently found similar, rather unsuitable conditions to engage productively in networking. Juana, cited earlier, explained why she was unable to benefit from her husbands' connections. MLA: And those people whom you knew from your neighborhood …did they ever give you any reference as to where finding any jobs? Juana: No, because they were working in construction. They are all young men and, thus, everything is just construction. They've not done anything else. As far as I know, since they arrived, that's all they've done. As indicated by these examples, women tended to find themselves relegated and often operated in the margins of the immigrant network. Gisela, a young immigrant who was constrained by the protection of her uncle and cousins, illustrates the way in which coincidental encounters usually come into play as an alternative source of information. MLA: Who would you say is the person who has helped you the most since you arrived in Atlanta? Gisela: Who has helped me the most …? I mean …No, well, me, almost me, alone, I've been the one who has moved around by myself …Because they didn't …they did not want to help me to get a car and all that … MLA: Whom did you ask for help?

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market Gisela: My uncle but …he did not want to help me get a license, or teach me how to drive … Later in the conversation, she added: Gisela: By that time I did not go out to any place. After that … I started to work and began to move on my own …and …any person whom I would meet in the streets I would ask …I would ask, for example, what to do if I wanted to get an apartment or how to go to different places …

These findings are relevant to our understanding of the gendered character of immigrant networks. They lend support to Hagan’s (1994) argument that the migration of both men and women is supported by a close-knit network of co-ethnics yet, over time, men’s networks tend to expand while women’s networks tend to stall. Amongst my informants, women's networks were smaller and less diverse than men’s. Their ties in the receiving society also seemed to be more clear-cut than those of their male counterparts, involving relationships either with relatives or with people whom they barely knew. Their relationships with neighbors and paisanos were also weaker and less obliging than men's. Thus, women seemed compelled to rely on information obtained through coincidental encounters with strangers, with whom relations were nonbinding and usually short-lived. Above all, these findings are critical in explaining the differential effects of strong and weak ties in men’s and women’s lives; specifically, the role of strong and weak connections in job search and labor market incorporation. This will be analyzed in depth in a later chapter.

TIES OF PAISANAJE According to Massey, relations of paisanaje are “[t]he most diffuse type of relations in the [migrant] networks …” (Massey 1991: 470). Through ethnographic research with male Mexican immigrants in Los Angeles, Massey found that the strongest relationship within migrant networks is that between fathers and sons. Thus, he depicts paisanaje as “diffuse” relative to the strong binding ties immigrants have with


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their relatives and friends. Ties of paisanaje provide an ideal example of relationships that cannot be categorically defined as weak or strong. Typically, paisanaje alludes to relationships amongst people who have originated in the same town in Latin America. My findings highlight the contextual and subjective meaning of this term, which is often used to denote the ties of solidarity expected amongst people who share a common national origin. This section draws on the personal narratives of my informants to explore the boundaries, meanings, and functions attached to paisanaje. Massey (1991), explains that paisanaje develops amongst people sharing the same community of origin. The type of relationships paisanos cultivate is not extended to acquaintances from other communities (Massey 1991: 470-71). However, within immigrant communities in the U.S., it is a common practice to incorporate people from other Mexican towns into the circle of paisanos, particularly when there is a scarcity of hometown people in the host city. Community building activities like soccer games and the celebration of the patron saint's fiesta “ …facilitate the formation of friendly relations with people from other communities” (Massey 1991: 471). My conversations with the immigrants provided several examples of paisanaje that illustrate the basis of the relationship. For the most part, the stories told by the informants suggested that Mexican immigrants are less likely to develop ties of paisanaje with Latin Americans from other nationalities (e.g., Central and South Americans) than with those from their own country. National/ethnic divisions based on economic competition seemed to play a significant role in this regard. Xavier, who had been in Atlanta for five years, explained that temporary work and hourly wages for immigrant workers had decreased in recent years due to competition with non-Mexican immigrants. MLA: About how much are they paying now? Xavier: The same! Even less! Yes, even less. What happens is that now there are too many people. And …and …many people, let's say, from …from Guatemala …Just as they arrived, it went down to five “pesos” [most likely meaning dollars].

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market MLA: So the payment has gone down… Xavier: Yes, it has gone down …Then, they are quite “cismosos” … MLA: What do you mean? Xavier: Cismosos. That is, they crowd the corners [where workers are usually picked up for temporary work] and they all get in the truck. MLA: And do they get along well with Mexicans? Xavier: No, no, they don't! They are “pildoritas” [small “pills,” i.e., small in stature]. They are so small, so small! They just arrived and took the salary down and now the bolillo helps them …why? Because they take …they take five dollars an hour. Now we say, “you guys have just arrived and the salary went down.” In '95, the payment was much better …and now, instead of going up, we're going down, yes!

Other references to divisions between Mexican and Central American workers revolved around cultural differences rather than economic competition. Jorge, from San Luis Potosí, explained some of the cultural mis-communications that often create distrust between Mexicans and Central Americans. Jorge: Unfortunately, between us, for example Latinos, we have certain …certain “ethnias.” For example, Salvadoran with Salvadoran, Nicaraguans, and …Mexicans with Mexicans, right? That is, between Mexicans we do help each other. MLA: Why is there such division? Why do Mexicans and Salvadoran not help each other? Jorge: Yes, yes …They do help each other as Hispanics, as Latinos. What happens is that there are different customs and different dialects of Salvadorans and Guatemalans, compared to Mexicans. MLA: For example, what customs are different?


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Jorge: Let's say, in the words we use …yes. Did you say I could say the words? MLA: Sure, no problem. Jorge: Let's say, Mexicans use the word “buey” [bull] a lot… MLA: And by that you mean … Jorge: Well, if we go by the lexicon, it means the animal that works in the “yunta” [yoke]. That is, the male of the cow. In other words, it would be the bull, right? The bull …In Mexico the normal word for a “toro” [bull] is “buey.” That is, to say “buey” is to say friend, like … “compa,” “compadre”4 …pal. MLA: Do you call each other “buey”? Jorge: Yes, to avoid saying “Pedro”, or “Juan,” “Pancho,” ah? “Hey, buey! Come here!” And …and if another person that …For example, if we call a Salvadoran or Guatemalan “buey,” that's offending them. It's like calling them animal. Or …or sometimes they …in order to say “I'm going to beat you up,” they say …[laughter] May I really say it …? MLA: Sure, say it! Jorge: Well, what I was going to say is …they for example would say: “Te voy a dar verga!” [I will give you “penis.”] Then, if you say that to a Mexican …damn! That's like telling him you're going to abuse him sexually with …with the penis, right? Then they would be really mad. Those are different …are customs that we have. That's the experience I've had. But returning to the topic that Mexicans help each other, yes, they do help each other, they do …

4. “Compa” and “compadre” literally mean “co-parent,” i.e., the relationship between a parent and his/her child's godparent. But the term “compadre” is also used casually between friends or mates, as a sign of affection or solidarity.

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Amongst Mexican workers originating in different communities in Mexico, such divisions were less obvious, but they also stood out in my informants' narratives. Lisandro described his personal experience in this regard: Lisandro: [I was living in Marietta, Atlanta] …and from there, those living in that house, we split, and I left with half of them and we came here, here in Doraville [Atlanta] MLA: Why did you split? Lisandro: Because …ah …some problems like …I don't know, like differences. Because …one half was from …from around my town [Hidalgo] and the other half was from the State of Mexico. I don't know …There are …there are many differences that we didn't …we didn't share. MLA: Why? Because you all were from different towns? Lisandro: Yes, maybe. Different customs. MLA: So, those from Hidalgo …you're from Hidalgo, right? Those from Hidalgo went their way and those from Mexico City stayed … Lisandro: Yes, those from Hidalgo stayed there and I left with …with those from the Federal District. MLA: Oh, really! So, you get along better with those from the Federal District? Lisandro: From the beginning, I already started to …to become closer to them. I like the way they are better and stuff …and not the others. MLA: Why? That is, what was wrong with the ones from Hidalgo that you did not like? Lisandro: Ah …they were more …like more serious, like …to some extent …hypocritical because, I mean, how can I tell you, two-faced, as people say. No …I don't like how they are.


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While paisanaje usually ties people originating in the same village, city, or district in Mexico, the development of ties of paisanaje is based on context and the immigrants’ subjective assessment of a person’s trustworthiness. Whatever the context in which paisanaje was cultivated by my informants, its presence was salient across cases. Federico, a native of Laredo, describes the role that paisanos from his town of origin played in helping him settle and find a job in Austin, when he first came to the U.S. After a brief period in San Antonio, he decided to move closer to his townspeople. MLA: Why did you decide to leave San Antonio? There you had a place to stay and a job, so why did you decide to leave? Federico: Because there they paid 4-5 “pesos” [dollars] an hour. I don't know how much they pay now. I went to Austin and I liked it …I liked the place. MLA: Why did you decide to move to Austin, specifically? Had anybody given you any information about Austin? Federico: Over there …there are others over there …other mates from “el pueblo” [the town]. “Y fuí a caer con ellos.”5 MLA: Mates from where …? The town you came from? Federico: Yes. MLA: Did you already know that they were there? Federico: Yes. MLA: How did you find them? Federico: Well, there's the telephone …[and I had their] number.

5. This phrase could be translated as “and I arrived to the place where they were” or “and I moved in with them.” When said in Spanish (“fuí a caer con ellos”), it carries the connotation of having moved directly and intentionally to his mates' place.

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market MLA: Did you stay in touch with them while you were in Mexico? Federico: Yes.

Although sharing the same town of origin in Mexico appears to be the primary grounds for paisanaje, the concept seems to be fluid and subject to negotiation, depending on individual circumstances. As with the immigrants in Massey's study, common national origin also became the basis of solidarity relationships amongst many of my informants, regardless of town or location in Mexico. This, often, seemed to be the case of workers who arrived in the U.S. without any ties, weak or strong. Pedro, from Mexico City, represents a typical example. From the beginning, his experience in the U.S. was characterized by insecurity and sometimes desperation. He often found himself homeless and hungry, doing day labor on an intermittent basis and moving around riding with strangers. Under such circumstances, more than once he sought shelter and found support within the immigrant network, specifically with other Mexican paisanos, regardless of their origins in Mexico. MLA: So, what did you do when you arrived in Atlanta? Did you say you first arrived at the airport? [Through rides, not by air]. Pedro: Over there, beyond the airport. I walked and arrived in the airport and I didn't know what was there. And there were a bunch of black people there and there was a Mexican, and then I asked him where the Mexican neighborhoods were, so that one could arrive “en confianza” [with confidence, with a sense of trust] or …so that there, “en propia raza” [with my own “race”] I could ask them to give me something to eat or whatnot …And somebody told me, “up there, there is a train, the 'metro,' and it can take you.” And he said, “Go to the last station, there you will find the Catholic Mission, passing there where you arrived with the train, they can help you there.” Like the soccer team and the community festivals described by Massey, the Catholic Mission, where I conducted most of my


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interviews, seemed to function as a meeting ground and a place for community-building amongst immigrants originating in various towns in Mexico. In the course of his field research, Massey observed that “ …the practice field has become an obligatory place of reunion for all out-migrant paisanos. It is the place where dates are made, work obtained, friends located, new arrivals welcomed, and news of the town exchanged” (Massey 1991: 471). In addition to the soccer leagues, which are also common in the Atlanta area, La Misión seems to play an important social function, bringing people from different towns together to build and cultivate their ties of paisanaje. Both men and women amongst my informants made frequent reference to friends they had made and information they had obtained through the network of immigrants who revolve around La Misión. In the case of Pedro, the personnel at La Misión introduced him to other Mexican immigrants who were experiencing similar hardships and paid for temporary housing. Pedro: About the second night, they allowed me to stay here with some “cuates;” they paid so that I could stay with some guys. MLA: Who paid for the room? Pedro: Here, La Misión. MLA: You mean, La Misión paid for you to stay with other “paisanos” from Mexico? Pedro: Yeah …since they did not have a place to sleep either …I mean, they gathered them, asked how many they were, and took them … It was also with the help of La Misión that Pedro found his first job in the U.S., cleaning a stadium. As he explains, his was not an isolated case. Pedro: [I found this job] through a flier that they bring here …that they bring …so that people …Since many people come to look for jobs here, or many people who have just come from Mexico …like …for example like me, who do not have

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market family …Many people, well, they're told that here is a mission and that's how many people also come here.

As Pedro's case shows, co-national paisanos from different places in Mexico not only extended mutual support, but also called upon one another as part of “la propia raza” (our own race or kind). As with Pedro, several immigrants used this term (“la propia raza”) in reference to solidarity and loyalty expectations among Mexican people, in general. Whether the perception of the Mexican people as “la propia raza” is also present in Mexico or develops in the U.S., as result of the salience of racial/ethnic identity and competition amongst minorities, remains an open question. Regardless, solidarity based on common national origin, which can be seen as a form of paisanaje, was common amongst the interviewees. Based on such co-national ties, Pedro eventually found a job and a permanent place to stay with some paisanos from Guanajuato. Pedro: I started to walk down hoping to find something, 'cause I said to myself: “I have to start looking for a job because it will soon be dark …before night finds me here …” And I wandered all around that area down there, and that's how I met some men from Guanajuato, those that I mentioned to you earlier, those that work in roofing, those “ruferos,” as they say. Those men gave me a job and …then they, themselves, realized [my condition] and let me stay there in their house. That is, there are several guys living there and they told me, “Here we're all quiet …” I said, “Well, with me, there will be no problem.” And they told me, “We all share when the bills come, the same when it's time to pay for the rent and the same with our meals. We bring food and say, 'It was this much,' and each pays his share, depending on how many we are and how much the bill is.” MLA: And that's where you are living now? With them? Pedro: Yes. Regardless of regional origin in Mexico, the cornerstone of paisanaje seems to be the solidarity expectations and mutual


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obligations that common national background entails in the migrant context. As shown in the preceding section, trust and intimacy are subject to negotiation and depend mostly on individual perception; but solidarity between paisanos is often expected even before trustworthiness is ascertained and confidence created. The unique character of the paisanaje bond lies in the fact that it carries strong reciprocal obligations, even when the parties have not yet developed the “emotional intensity and mutual confiding” that, according to Granovetter, underlie strong ties. The basic concept that captures the meaning of the relationship and expectations between paisanos is that of “hay que darse la mano” (“we have to give a hand to one another”). One of my interviewees, Indalecio, emphasized the importance of this norm. He reported that, while working in North Carolina, he stayed with some “relatives” who helped him with housing, food, and job information. MLA: Were they distant relatives? Indalecio: Yes, distant relatives. MLA: What was your relation to them? Were they your uncles or … Indalecio: Well …only acquaintances. That is, from the same area that I come from. MLA: So, they were not blood relatives? Indalecio: No, not blood relatives. They were friends from my own town. When I asked whether he had ever borrowed money from these fictive kin, Indalecio replied: Indalecio: Well, they did offer. “Well, you know, whenever you need something, money or anything, just say whenever you need, if you want to borrow. Yes, there's need to 'echarse la mano'“ [give a hand]. Amongst recent immigrants, echarse la mano means extending material and logistic support, including money, housing, and food, as well as information, mobility, and advice. Between paisanos, such

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obligations are mutual. In turn, paisanaje becomes a social infrastructure capable of supporting continuous migration and the survival of recent immigrants in an, often, hostile society. Norberto, from Puebla, illustrates the way paisanos operate and reciprocate within the dynamics of paisanaje. MLA: How did you get that job in construction? Norberto: Thanks to a “paisano” who stayed there, in that same house, in the apartment where we were all living. MLA: So, you have found all of your jobs through “paisanos”? Norberto: Yes. Paisanos who …well, they were already there …They move back and forth and …well, they know …I mean, one also knows, since one is also moving around back and forth, but since we all live in the same house …As you see, with me, there are four or five and sometimes when there is work we all go. As these examples suggest, most references to paisanos and their mutual obligations were made by the men in my sample. Women's interactions, when compared to men's, seemed to be rather confined to the kinship and friendship network. Their relationships outside their immediate circle were generally limited. In a number of cases, relationships with Spanish-speaking women, not only from Mexico, seemed to entail a degree of solidarity and camaraderie. However, these were more likely to develop within the framework of the job place and remained restricted to the work sphere. Paula, cited earlier, provides a typical example. She felt more comfortable working with Latinas, since it made communication smoother and the job setting more amiable. However, she consistently remarked throughout our conversation that her supporting network, during her initial years in Atlanta, was limited to her sister and brother in-law. The case of Juana, also cited earlier, indicates that women are not oblivious to their interconnection with other fellow Mexicans, through the social institution of paisanaje. This became evident when Juana expressed her desire to move to the neighborhood of Marietta where many of her country people were, so that she could feel more com-


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fortable; in her own words, “more in family.” However, aside from the general sense of familiarity that relationships of paisanaje provide, women's relations with other Mexicans appeared to be more superficial and unobtrusive than men's. Isabel, who knew many women from Guerrero (her native town) in Atlanta, further illustrates this point. Isabel, was unemployed at the time of our encounter. MLA: During your stay in Atlanta, has anybody helped you with job referrals? Isabel: Now, of late, no. I don't have anybody who could help me with referrals. MLA: Why? Have your friends not help you in this regard? Isabel: Not now. Nobody has helped me now. MLA: What about all those friends from school? Didn't you say many of them were in Atlanta? Isabel: Here I have …like …some …two or three. But they live far, right? Far from here. MLA: Are they from Guerrero too? Isabel: Yes, they're from Guerrero. Ah …I do have several friends. I know the address of some of them, but …or rather the address of the places where they work, but I don't know the address of all of them. I have no idea where they live. I know they live here in Atlanta, but I don't have their address, or telephone, or any of that. Before leaving Mexico, many of the male interviewees stayed in touch with their fellow paisanos already living in the U.S. This was, apparently, not the case with most women. Their connections and interactions in the U.S. were more likely to be limited to relatives and close, long-term friends. Their relationships with paisanos outside the household setting, on the other hand, seemed to be less consistent and, therefore, less obliging than men's. Once in the U.S., women's limited mobility prevented their access to and expansion of the circle of paisanos. A typical case in this sense is that of Alicia.

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market MLA: Have you met people in your neighborhood, either through your husband or his relatives, who could help you find a job or provide you with job information? Alicia: No, since I do not go out very much …I do not go out, and … MLA: So, you've not made friends in your neighborhood? By the way, where do you stay? Alicia: Here in Doraville. MLA: Have you not made friends here in Doraville? Alicia: No.

When I asked her about her relations with acquaintances or friends from her previous job, in a candle factory, distance and lack of mobility also seemed to be a limitation. MLA: In the candle factory, were there other Mexican women working, besides your sister in-law? Alicia: Yes, many, there were many … MLA: While you were working in this candle factory, did you make any acquaintances or friends who could now help you, for example, giving you a ride if need be, or providing you with job information? Alicia: No, because they live very far. MLA: Have you at least stayed in touch with any of them? Alicia: With two of them only. MLA: Have they helped you in any way? Alicia: Well, they alert me when …when they know of a factory that is needing people to work and …and I go but …no. MLA: Do you consider these two women your friends?


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Alicia: Well …I feel that …that they are my friends. Well, only by phone. I call them and …we maintain a friendship. In sharp contrast with men's autonomy and constant mobility between different states in the U.S., women's activities, relations, and choices seem to gravitate towards the home front. This pattern coincides with McPherson and Smith-Lovin's observation that women tend to have fewer connections and participate in domesticallyoriented, smaller organizations than men (McPherson and Smith-Lovin 1982: 898). Amongst the women in my sample, this tendency translated into a more peripheral position within the immigrant network and fewer opportunities to cultivate and consolidate ties with their paisanos. The sex segregation of the immigrant job market is relevant in explaining gender differences in paisanaje. In the Atlanta labor market, a large number of male immigrants rely on day labor (in construction, gardening, and various types of manual work). Given the change of scenario that day labor entails, men's opportunities to encounter and connect with their paisanos are wider. Different job-seeking strategies may also account for women's fewer ties and lower degree of attachment with their paisanos. Men's less formal job-seeking strategies (e.g., waiting to be picked for day labor in various street corners in Doraville and Chamblee) increase their chances of meeting other Mexican immigrants and create suitable opportunities to use and draw on their ties of paisanaje. The significance of these observations is that they illustrate the extent to which immigrant networks develop along gender lines. Moreover, they illustrate some the processes that may underlie the formation of gender-segregated networks. In this regard, my findings lend support to Hagan's argument that, whereas male networks tend to expand, female immigrant networks often contract (Hagan, 1994). As Hagan explains, co-ethnic solidarity (i.e., paisanaje) is a binding force for both men and women in the migrant context. As such, it is quite instrumental in the migration and settlement process of immigrants of both sexes. Yet the particular circumstances of women's lives and labor markets (in Hagan's study, women's concentration in domestic service), “leads to the breakdown of ethnic-based networks and to eventual isolation” (Hagan 1994: 61). A side effect of women's broken networks

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is their resulting reliance on brief, sporadic encounters, as a source of job information and referral. My primary conclusion with regard to the nature of paisanaje is that its boundaries and dynamics are not given or rigid, but created, negotiated, and often times re-constructed in the host society. The “diffuse” character of paisanaje, mentioned by Massey, refers both to its lesser intensity when compared to strong ties, as well as its flexible structure and fluid quality. In addition to common origin, common needs and circumstances in a new society promote solidaristic relations between Mexican workers from neighboring, as well as distant towns in Mexico. In some cases, e.g., in a hostile or English-speaking job setting, Spanish language becomes a common ground and an integrative force between Latin American immigrants from various countries in North, Central, and South America. On the other hand, sharing the same place of origin is relevant, since immigrants seem to attach a special meaning and a keen sense of obligation to their relations with fellow Mexicans from their own respective towns. Shared origin is a condition that promotes paisanaje, the ties of reciprocity between parties who had not necessarily known each other before. Thus, it creates the subjective distinction between a paisano and a weak tie. Likewise, solidarity based on origin, rather than friendship, indicates the essential difference between relationships of paisanaje and strong ties. All in all, the underlying sense of identity between paisanos seems to derive from perceived, more than ascribed, commonalities between immigrants, who find themselves in an unfamiliar context. This can be seen in light of Massey's theory about migrant networks. The transformational effect that international migration exerts on human relationships often extends to the institution of paisanaje. In turn, paisanaje may be understood as the commitment that exists between immigrants who share a common origin, be it a town or a country. Such spontaneous sense of solidarity, founded on common background, rather than long-term friendship or frequent interaction, gives its unique nature and distinctive position to paisanaje within the immigrant network.


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“EL COYOTE” One significant and unique actor within the immigrant network is the coyote or pollero, who represents the first weak tie of most immigrants upon entering the host society. With a few exceptions, most of the interviewed workers crossed the border between Mexico and the U.S. through the paid services of a coyote or pollero, who also provided, in a number of cases, the necessary information and contacts for the initial residence and job placement of undocumented immigrants. Cristobal's case, cited earlier in this section, provides a good illustration. MLA: How did you make the decision to come to North Carolina? Cristobal: Because the …the pollero, ah …he knows several jobs and I did one of these jobs there in order to pay him. These are …the simplest jobs, work in the field. And I went to work to the field first. MLA: With the purpose of paying the pollero? Cristobal: To pay him, yes … MLA: So, you got this job through the pollero? Cristobal: Yes. MLA: How was it when you first arrived? Tell me a little bit about your experience when you arrived in North Carolina. You said you did not know anybody, except the pollero who helped you cross the border and alerted you about the job in North Carolina. So, how was your experience upon arrival? Cristobal: Look, he lives …near the place where pines are cut. Ah …then he knows many people, so he takes most of the people he brings from Mexico to this place. Their destination: North Carolina. And …that was a moment when I needed to work in order to pay him and to provide for my own expenses. For workers with few or no network ties in the receiving society, the pollero can become a resourceful contact, given his skills in moving in and around various U.S. cities. One of my informants, Plácido, used

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to work as a pollero himself. He was able to find a different type of work in Washington, D.C., thanks to his many relationships with immigrants whom he had helped cross the border and establish their new residence in the U.S. However, due to the indebtedness and dependence of recent immigrants on their polleros, the relationship is highly asymmetrical. In this sense, the polleros represent a special instance of weak ties within the web of interrelations that sustain the immigrant network among Mexicans in the U.S. One indicator of the weak and emotionally detached relations between immigrants and polleros is the fact that most immigrants crossing the border for the first time have had no contact with their polleros until the beginning of their journey. Often, while planning for the trip, it takes months to find a pollero in border towns. The long process of obtaining money (a thousand dollars or more) to pay for the services of the pollero, and the monetary the basis of the relationship, also denote the contractual nature of the tie. Rosa, who had been in Atlanta with her family for one year, described the pool of resources that is normally required to pay the pollero and make the journey from Mexico to the U.S. as an undocumented worker. She reported that her Mexican friends, who had been living in Atlanta for a while, mobilized the support of their friends and relatives to help Rosa and her family move to the U.S. She said: Rosa: Their siblings and friends, the friends that they had, provided support. MLA: How did they help you? Rosa: Ah …well …They collected the money to pay the people who were going to help us cross. They are known as “coyotes,” I think. And then, as they collected the money, they paid part of it, let's say, something like $3,500. Ah …the total was $7,000. So we first gave $3,500 to have them take us across and then upon arrival here we had to give them the remaining $3,500. While describing the steps he had to take in order to arrange his journey to the U.S., Jacinto spoke of the plight of other Latin American immigrants crossing the border. His account is relevant to our depiction of the polleros, since it provides a graphic portrayal of the context in


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which polleros come into play as a necessary cost to decrease the risks of such a dangerous project. Jacinto: Well, we passed through the river. That river is larger than from here to the airport. It's a filthy river; a river—as the warning signs indicate, “Do not enter because the river carries radioactive materials—is polluted.” MLA: What kind of pollution contaminates the river? Jacinto: Ah …radioactive material, poison, human feces, factories' drainage, heavy chemicals and, with time, it can affect us. Well, but there are signs warning us on both sides in addition to immigration authorities urging us to go back. Or one can cross through the fence, but the immigration police can also catch up with us and they push us like …worse than dogs …We crossed several times through the hills. We stayed there for five days. Day, night, without rest, without eating, without water, with nothing. Women are the ones who suffer most. I've seen many women crossing. Well, we Mexicans do not suffer. Mexicans do not suffer very much during the crossing. The ones who suffer most are the Salvadorans. MLA: Why do you say that Salvadorans suffer more than Mexicans? Jacinto: Well …we call Salvadorans, “three times wet-back.” We are some …wet-backs, but they have to cross Guatemala. From Guatemala to Mexico, which is another border. For them, the journey from El Salvador to Guatemala is not very difficult. But what's difficult for them is from Mexico to the U.S., because it's a bigger country …They're caught by our own Mexican cops and they're imprisoned. They have to try to pass for Mexicans in order not to be sent back to …to El Salvador …We spend $1,500 to cross. Or $1,800. They spend $5,000 …5,000 dollars …We suffer because we leave our families behind. But we only suffer from …from half the Mexican territory up to here. They suffer from the moment they leave their houses in Guatemala, El Salvador, [throughout] the entire Mexico, which they have to cross. Imagine that

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market long journey … It may take more than a month. If they're unlucky, they die on the way …or …they fail on the way and turn back. They sometimes mortgage their houses …They talk about “Mexican good luck.” “Because you all are luckier. If you're caught now you can return tomorrow. When we're thrown out we don't know if we'll ever come back.”

For both Mexicans and Central Americans crossing the border illegally, the coyote is like a “passport” into the U.S.; without his protection, the risks and hardships of the journey are greater and often life threatening. However, the coyote is not a trustworthy person. Jacinto also spoke of the trials and failings of some of his friends who were deceived by their coyotes. Jacinto: They [his friends] were also coming, but they …ah …they lost their coyotes several times, I don't know how. Because they came to the Matamoros center. The coyotes are there, for hire, like hot merchandise. “Come on, we'll cross you,” but they [the coyotes] often just come up with a lot of “rollo” [nonsense, boastful talk]. So I asked them, “Did you not say you had a coyote?” “No,” they said. “We have nothing.” A miscalculation in the selection and hiring of a coyote or pollero may jeopardize the success of the journey. Failure to pay the services of a pollero (whose payment is sometimes required in advance) may result in the abandonment of the immigrant or even a forced return to Mexico. Thus, relationships between immigrants and polleros are business-like and formal. They entail no social commitment or solidarity based on co-ethnic ties, beyond the agreement regarding passage to the U.S. Furthermore, relationships between immigrants and polleros typically involve a significant level of suspicion, given the imbalance of power that characterizes the relation. Oscar, a college-educated immigrant from Mexico City, who seemed dreary about his negative experiences in the U.S., shared with me one traumatic incident that exemplifies the abuse immigrants often suffer in the hands of coyotes.


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Oscar: [During our first night in a hotel in Sonora] we were the victims of three robberies in half an hour. Ah …those same people, associated with the coyotes, were implicated. I realized this because everything was very well coordinated. They entered our room and threatened one of us with a knife to the neck and a pistol pointed at his forehead. “You know what? Drop the money!” Half an hour later, again. The same. The third time I thought that, well, that I was not going to survive due to their …the way they behaved … Then …well, I started to cry because …it was not fair! They undressed us! I felt they destroyed my dignity, my honor as a man, the self …Not the “macho,” but the person, the man, because they undressed us all. MLA: You said these people were with the coyotes? Oscar: They were the coyotes! The coyotes’ friends! “El pollero” or coyote, as terms suggests, is a wild animal of the desert that feeds on its prey; in this case, the prey is the undocumented immigrant, who represents “el pollo,” (the chick) the vulnerable counterpart of the rapacious pollero. Tito reflected on this. Tito: Those are very sad stories, very sad. We had to hide from the “migra” [border patrol police] and from …from those who rob us, from the thieves. You see, for example, we are the “pollos” [chicks] and the …the coyotes are the ones who take us across the border … From the beginning of their journey to different destinations in the U.S., Mexican labor migrants, especially the undocumented, find themselves in a precarious and hostile environment. The imbalance of power that characterizes many of their dealings in the host society discourages openness and intimacy. Unfamiliar situations where they find themselves disempowered, threatened, or alienated by language barriers or their illegal status often generate suspicion and result in shallow relationships. In contrast, familiar social spaces enhance confidence and strengthen interpersonal relations. As with the ghetto poor

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described by Stark in his ethnography, immigrants' marginality with regard to mainstream institutions tends to strengthen internal solidarity. In summary, we can conclude that the relationships established by recent Mexican immigrants highlight the subjective element that ultimately defines the strength of a tie, i.e., the trust that immigrants invest in their various network ties. Amongst Mexican immigrants, the perception of common circumstances in the U.S. seems to be relevant in building confidence and trust. In this regard, my findings indicate that strong ties form quickly and without much mutual knowledge amongst the immigrants. A sense of affinity, solidarity, mutual responsibility, and trustworthiness creates strong bonds amongst co-nationals who would otherwise regard each other as strangers or, at most, acquaintances. In contrast, distrust, communication barriers, and estrangement in a foreign land significantly reduce chances to develop weak ties and interact with non-immigrants. Above all, amongst new immigrants, the viability of weak ties as potential social resources is lower in an environment that both alienates and is alien to them. Overall, the significance of these findings is that they help to contextualize theories of social networks and tie strength by uncovering the complex web of social relations within immigrant communities. The immigrants' views related in this section suggest that dichotomous categorizations of social ties may overlook the various types of relations that individuals develop within their networks. Immigrant networks, specifically, display a rich variety of links between the weak and strong ends of the continuum. Paisanaje—the implicit expectation of camaraderie and reciprocity among immigrants who come from the same town or, in some cases, neighboring communities—is a good example in this regard. In the following section, I will describe and provide examples of paisanaje.

CHAPTER 6

Dónde hay chamba?6 Looking for a Job in Atlanta

How do recent Mexican immigrants look for jobs in Atlanta? How accessible are employment agencies during their job-seeking process? How much do they rely on “word-of-mouth” through their network connections? How much do job-seeking strategies vary according to gender, education, age, or immigrant status? In this chapter, I describe the various job seeking methods utilized by my informants. First I describe the uses and limitations of such formal job seeking strategies as hiring the services of employment agencies, applying at the job site, and relying on radio and newspapers ads. My primary focus, however, is on informal job-seeking strategies, i.e., soliciting information through relatives, friends, paisanos, or acquaintances. Hence, the following sections describe immigrants networking strategies during job-search, highlighting variations between men and women’s networks. No significant differences appeared to exist in my informants' networks and networking strategies according to such variables as education, age, or English proficiency (which was generally limited). Concerning immigration status, one of the immigrants who had lost his green card observed that his failure to renew it was due to the fact that it made no difference in his access to jobs or in the type of jobs available to him. However, various immigrants who had no documents (not even papeles chuecos) encountered obstacles due to their status when applying for jobs through such formal strategies as employment 6. Meaning, “where can I find a job?” Chamba is a Mexican slang word for “job.” 101

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agencies. Yet, job-seeking patterns through informal methods did not vary significantly by immigrants’ legal status. Education, on the other hand, seemed not to have had a major impact on my informants’ employment-seeking methods. As noted in Chapter 4, the educational level of my informants ranged from illiteracy to college graduate. The school level of most of the sampled people ranged between some elementary schooling and some precollege (“preparatoria”) work. Across this spectrum, I found no difference in the likelihood of using strong or weak ties, formal or informal strategies. Table 1 in Appendix 2 provides a detailed quantitative summary of job-seeking strategies according to gender. However, my analysis is primarily qualitative, as it is geared toward understanding networking process, network building, and the specific paths to employment amongst Mexican immigrants in Atlanta.

FORMAL JOB-SEEKING STRATEGIES Applying for jobs through employment agencies appears to be the most frequently used formal job-seeking strategy. Thirteen informants, including five men and eight women, indicated that they had looked for employment through agencies or were planning to use their services. Their popularity is probably a function of their availability and accessibility. There are at least three employment offices in the Chamblee and Doraville areas (two of the most populous immigrant neighborhoods in Atlanta). As a search strategy, applying for jobs through these agencies seems to be an option for workers with few or no other alternatives. Although agencies charge commissions for their services, job-placement occurs in a relatively short time and the personnel in some of these places seem to overlook the immigration status of their applicants. In an informal conversation with one of the employees at Catholic Social Services7, who preferred to remain anonymous, I learned that 7. This was one of the employment agencies in the neighborhood of Doraville, which is located beside Misión Católica and very close to the Doraville train station.

Dónde hay chamba? Looking for a Job in Atlanta

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70% of the people looking for jobs through this agency were unskilled workers. Her records showed that, during the four months prior to our interview, almost all office visitors were low-income workers, and well over 90% of all clients were of Hispanic/Latino origin. The large majority of the job applicants were residents of the Dekalb County. Hernán, an engineer and one of the two college-educated informants in my sample, worked as a truck driver for an employment agency for several months. His experience in this job gave him the chance to learn about the type of worker who uses such job placement services. During our conversation, he shared some of his insights with me. Hernán: …in Peachtree [one of the agencies] the majority [of applicants] are black North Americans. But in Tandem and Ingue, 98% are …are Hispanic. From that 98%, 90% are Mexican. According to Hernán, assembly and electronics are the primary industries recruiting workers through employment agencies. Although I was unable to obtain information about the specific industries served by Catholic Social Services, I learned that the number of businesses they worked with between January and April of 2000 ranged from eight to 21 per month. The type of advising that Catholic Social Services offers its clients seemed to be a good indicator of the low income, the limited school education, and the immigrant status of the applicants they expect to serve. For instance, in a brochure they distribute amongst workers looking for jobs, they advise job-seekers to present themselves neatly, use deodorant, clean their finger nails, comb their hair, and wear socks. They also advise against wearing jeans, tennis shoes, excessive makeup, low-neck blouses, or short skirts8. Moreover, the brochure, written in Spanish, also includes information about cultural issues, such as the meaning and importance of eye contact when discussing employment with an employer. This suggests that immigrant workers are central to 8. Taken from an informal brochure provided by my informant at Catholic Social Services.

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the recruitment and job placement activities of this agency. The brochure offered tips about how to fill out a job application and advised job-seekers to carry their social security and green cards. However, some of my informants who had no documents or presented only their papeles chuecos indicated that they had found temporary work through employment agencies.9 Juana’s case illustrates: Juana: What happens is that …we [she and her husband] have been looking [for a job for Juana], but they ask, even when it is in Mexican restaurants, or Hispanic, they ask for a social security number and, since we are illegal, well …really, we don't …we don't have them. So, we've been looking in various different places. Now, the only option in order to …not to remain jobless …we resorted again to the [employment] agency. Contrary to my expectations, looking for jobs through employment agencies seems to be common amongst illegal, undocumented immigrants. During my visit to Catholic Social Services, I was unable to establish at what specific point in the hiring process (i.e., when interviewing with the employment agency or with the employer) green cards and other official documents are required. However, Juana's example suggests that employers are more flexible in this regard when the hiring is mediated by an employment agency. Although accessible and frequently used by immigrants, employment agencies were generally perceived in a negative light: Federico: …those agencies …they keep the money and one remains with …with the weariness! Oscar, who had refused to use the services of any such agency up until the time of our conversation, provided further details:

9. The name of the specific agencies was not mentioned during the conversation, so there is not evidence that Catholic Social Services normally provides services to undocumented workers.


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Oscar: …all I know is that [employment agencies] keep a substantial part of the worker's salary …I have learned through a Venezuelan friend that those agencies normally charge around twelve dollars per person, per worker …And then they pay [the workers] seven or eight. Like $7.50. Thus, if we calculate, let's say that they place 100 people [on a weekly basis], that would be a bunch of money per week. That's making money at somebody else's expense! Given the high costs of relying on employment agencies, informants generally seemed to use their services when other jobseeking strategies failed or were not accessible. Juana's case also exemplifies this point. She obtained her first job washing dishes in a Japanese restaurant through one such agency. In return, she was expected to give 15% of her pay to the mediating agency. Since she quit after a few days on the job, her earnings wages were paid to the agency and Juana received no payment for her work. After trying unsuccessfully to look for employment by other means, she returned to the same agency, where she swiftly found her second job, also washing dishes, in a Chinese restaurant. Even though Juana’s undocumented status was a major factor in her decision to use an employment agency the second time around, her limited networking capacity was perhaps more decisive in this regard. She came to Atlanta to support her ill husband and was staying with him, in the apartment where he lived with other male immigrants, at the time our conversation took place. Despite her attempts to find employment through her husband’s friends and acquaintances, she was unable to work for nearly one month after having quit her first job. When I asked her how helpful her housemates and neighbors had been in providing information and referrals, she replied, “[t]hey are all young men and, thus, everything is just construction. They've not done anything else. As far as I know, since they arrived, that's all they've done.” Women, in general, seemed more likely to depend on employment agencies for job seeking, which may be a function of their fewer ties and more limited networking capacity. Several men in my sample also approached these agencies, but their job-seeking strategies tended to be more diverse. In general, they used formal job-placement services less frequently than women's. Based on his experience as a driver in an

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employment agency, Hernán explained some of the circumstances that normally require male immigrant workers to rely on job placement services: Hernan: If there's no work in …in construction, where they are used to working, then they go to an employment agency in order to make some money, because employment agencies are not to save money. They are meant to survive and nothing else. Although, in theory, looking for a job through an employment agency represents an example of a formal, systematic job seeking method, these agencies seem not to be the best option for workers with alternative resources in the form of human or social capital. Undocumented workers and unskilled immigrants seem to make up the typical clientele of these agencies. Hernan: Humble people, peasants, people who have not had the opportunity to attend school or who completed two-three years only. They may know how to read and write, but not much more … They [the agencies] abuse these people. They don't pay them …sometimes they don't pay [workers] for the hours they've worked. They [the workers] work for 40 hours and get paid for 32. Lack of accountability and low salaries confirm the generalized perception of these places as unreliable and exploitative. Hernan: Hispanics who work [in an assembly line located north of Atlanta] get paid $11 … If that Hispanic worker goes directly [to apply for the job at the work-site] he'd be paid 1314 per hour. Not 16-18 [usual wage of U.S.-born workers], because here there's discrimination too …They [the agencies] pay the workers only some 60-70% of what they charge [the businesses]. In addition to employment agencies, several workers in my sample relied on newspaper ads and radio announcements for information


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about jobs. Eleven interviewees (six men and five women) indicated that they checked the newspapers regularly and two said that they sometimes listened to the radio for this purpose. However, neither the radio nor the written press seemed to be very efficient means to obtain information conducive to actual jobs. Undocumented status and limited English proficiency seemed to be major obstacles in applying for jobs advertised through the media. Also, lack of public transportation to distant sites where the advertised jobs were located. The following quotations provide some typical examples of informants' experiences when looking for jobs through newspaper ads: Jorge: For a Hispanic who has just arrived …I …I tried to look for a job through different newspapers, but …but they [the employers] ask for social security, they ask for i.d.., and …and most of us don't have it. You have to get a fake social security. But to get a fake social security you need to have money first and if you don't have a job, well, there's no money. Luisa: Ah …they required …in some [jobs advertised in the newspaper] I was required to speak English. And, since I'm just learning, I'm now studying [English] then …I did not know how to speak it. Indalecio: Well …I have checked in the newspapers and have called [the corresponding business]. But, well, those jobs are too far. Isabel: In the newspapers? Yes [I have checked], but, above all, there, [the jobs advertised] in the papers, are too far from where I live and I would need…my own car…and also referrals. And, in terms of referral, since I am a recent immigrant, I don’t have… Aside from relying on job-placement agencies and mass communication media, the workers often walked-in directly in different job sites in search of prospective employment. Eight interviewees, including five men and three women, had resorted to this method.

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Among male informants, applying for jobs on a walk-in basis was common at construction sites. Female informants, on the other hand, visited restaurants and grocery stores when looking for jobs on-site.

MEN AT WORK: INFORMAL JOB SEEKING STRATEGIES AMONGST MALE IMMIGRANTS Informal job-seeking methods commonly used by Mexican immigrants in Atlanta primarily include asking for information amongst relatives and friends, co-workers, neighbors, acquaintances, and people whom they meet serendipitously in public places. As expected, relatives and friends were the most frequently cited source of job information and referral. Thirty, out of forty, informants reported that they had consulted family members or close friends during their job search, whereas only eight used weak ties (i.e., people whom they defined as acquaintances) for employment information. The negligible role of weak ties during the organization of migration may help explain why not many informants used such connections during their job search in Atlanta. Moreover, amongst new arrivals, access to weak ties was unlikely, given that most were undocumented, not proficient in English, and, therefore, marginal from mainstream social networks in the host society. In contrast, strong ties were central in every stage of migration. They were the most salient and efficient source of job information for male immigrants, in particular. Amongst the interviewed men, the process of obtaining information about the U.S. labor market through strong ties often started before their departure from Mexico. Jacinto's case illustrates: MLA: What had your friends told you about Atlanta? Jacinto: [They told me] That in Atlanta …there's not much problem with immigration authorities, that there are more jobs [than in Houston, where he had first stayed for a few days], that you can make more money, that [employers] pay better… In fact, it was not uncommon for male immigrants to have made verbal job arrangements in advance or to have discussed with friends or


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relatives the prospects of being employed in specific industries prior to their departure from Mexico. MLA: Did you already have a job when you came to Atlanta? Lisandro: I already …already had my job when I arrived. MLA: How did you obtain this job? Lisandro: My friends were already working in …in construction. MLA: So, they had promised that they would get you a job? Lisandro: Yes, they had told me that there were jobs here. MLA: Did you only know that there were jobs or had you already gotten a job before you came? Lisandro: No, no. I did not have one, as such, but …but I already knew that I could find one pretty easily. MLA: So, how long did it take you to get your first job? Lisandro: Ah …almost right away, three days after I arrived I was already working. MLA: In construction? Lisandro: Yes …they [his friends] took me with them. Various other male immigrants spoke of similar experiences. Jorge's narratives further illustrate the point: MLA: How long did it take you to find a job? Jorge: Almost right away. The next day I was working. MLA: And this was with the help of your friend? Jorge: Yes, he helped me …I have realized that people here work in various different things, on the first thing they find, right? The nature of the Atlanta job market for male immigrants, particularly for undocumented workers who often find employment in

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the informal sector, seems to make networking through strong ties relatively effective. In different industries that employ temporary, unskilled labor, such as construction and agriculture, both job referrals and information about vacancies circulate fluidly between fellow Mexican workers and friends. Alberto: I decided to leave that job in …February …and I went to a town named Vidalia. You know that, well, between friends, you get to know [about jobs], because many of them move back and forth. “Ah! I've been in this and this place, there are jobs there,” and that's how it goes. So, I had already heard that in that town there's a lot of [work in] onion [fields]. Within the immigrant network, friends and paisanos are instrumental in providing not only job information, but also guidance in the process of optimizing employment outcomes. As I had expected, immigrants' strong ties in the host society function as a socializing agent. Fellow migrant workers offer advice and share useful employment tips with recent immigrants. The exchange of information about salary and working conditions across different industries seems to be particularly intense amongst male immigrants. In addition to finding his first employment within a short time with the help of his friend, Jorge, for example, was able to obtain information about better paying jobs and changed employers three times during his first two months in Atlanta. MLA: When you decided, after your first week in Atlanta, that you wanted to find a different job, with whom did you talk? What did you do to look for your second job? Jorge: Well …there, with friends from my hometown, I told them. They asked me, “How much were you getting paid?” [in his first job, in construction]. I told them that I was earning $140. “That's too low,” they said, “$40 per day and you work from eight to eight, right? Almost 12 hours!” So, one of them asked me to come with him to carpentry. “They'll pay you better there.”


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Besides providing information, referrals, and training, friends and relatives also serve as “bridges” through which recent immigrants (especially males) meet new people and expand their respective occupational networks. Jacinto: I came [to Atlanta] with four other friends from my town …We came to the place where a cousin of one of my friends was staying … He [one of his friend's cousins] said, “Come, let's go to my friend’s place” and we stayed there. Then, I said, “Get me a job, because I need to work”. MLA: Where was he working? Jacinto: In carpentry …and he gave me a job. He said, “I will give you a job, but it will be in North Carolina.” MLA: Your friend's cousin was working in North Carolina? Jacinto: No, but his employer had vacancies there. Shared living arrangements typical amongst single male immigrants (and/or those who migrate without their spouses) provide suitable conditions for the consolidation of close-knit occupational networks and the use of their strong connections as a job-seeking and placement strategy. Ivan (who had been in the U.S. for a period of two years at the time of our conversation) worked in several temporary jobs when he first arrived. He provides a good example in this regard. MLA: Were you staying with your cousin when you arrived? Ivan: Yes, we [he and a group of friends who made the journey across the border together] were staying there with him, in his basement apartment. We were all there. We usually prepare our meals together … MLA: Did you all share the costs of food and rent? Ivan: Yes, we shared the food. We used to go to the store together, buy our food and then calculate the bill. We were five people. So, everyone would contribute to pay the bill. It could be $40, $30, $35, it varied depending on how much we had spent, right? It was the same with the apartment rent, we

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market all contributed to the monthly payment …We did not have to pay for the water, because it was covered by the landlord.

While sharing living accommodations and expenses, male immigrant workers also support one another in the process of becoming familiar with and adjusting to the host community. MLA: How did you manage to communicate in English, for example, when you went to the store to buy your food items? Ivan: Well, look: in Chicago [the city where Ivan first stayed] there were many stores [owned by] Americans …Since my cousin could speak English he would be the one taking us around …to look around, to become familiar with the world, so to speak, because otherwise you would not be able to get around… The supporting relationships of male Mexican immigrants in the U.S. eventually become an occupational network that sustains the workers' labor market incorporation. Moreover, these networks provide the foundation for collective job-seeking strategies and hiring. A common practice amongst Mexican laborers, particularly those who are underemployed or seasonal workers, is to form crews with their peers in order to get temporary contracts in construction or agriculture. MLA: Who hired you [for a job in construction]? Xavier: He was a …he was a bolillo, that is, he was the owner. MLA: How did you meet him? Xavier: I met him through a brother who was trying to organize a crew to work with him. “Sure, let's do it, a team can be organized with four or five!” MLA: So, what do you need to do when you want to get a job like that, for four or five workers? Xavier: Well, because …before 1995, I had a friend …He was living in another house and told us that there was this


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company that builds homes, but needed a group of workers. So, the other guy [a friend of his friend, presumably] said that I could form a group, and that's how we got it and my cousin used to give us rides. Given their mobility and communal living arrangements, male immigrants' networking process involves relatives, friends, and paisanos who exchange services and strengthen their ties with one another on the basis of paisanaje. Men's strong ties, in this regard, include both friends and relatives whom they had met in Mexico, as well as more recent friendships, developed in the host country. A common job-seeking strategy used by Mexican male workers who lack strong ties takes place in a wide-open public place, “la esquina,” i.e. “the corner.” Every day between 5:00 or 6:00 a.m. and noon, jobless male immigrant workers crowd various street intersections along Buford Highway, the main road that connects the immigrant neighborhoods of Chamblee and Doraville, in northeast metro-Atlanta. At la esquina, workers wait and hope to be picked up and hired for one or, with luck, several days by local homeowners or businesses requiring manual, temporary laborers to work in gardening, construction, painting, moving, cleaning, and the like. I asked Victor, from Guadalajara, how an immigrant gets a job at one of these street intersections. His description conveys the informal, unofficial nature of employment transactions in this setting. Victor: …You stand there, “What's up!, what's up ‘compa’,” like that. “Let's see, how many? Two or three.” Sometimes you ask for seven-eight “pesos” [dollars an hour]. “Seven 'pesos'? Okay! Let's go! I was paid five pesos to work sweeping. I used to go like that, to get burned under the sun, because, because I did not have even a penny. La esquina provides a cheap, accessible pool of labor for the informal economy and a readily available source of income as mode of day-to-day survival for migrant workers. Given the type of jobs offered at la esquina, this job-seeking site is geared toward unskilled male workers. As an employment-seeking method, looking for jobs at la esquina is common among male workers who lack a supporting

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network of economically active relatives, friends, or housemates, who can connect the immigrant with their own respective occupational networks. Alberto, who had moved between several jobs in agriculture in Florida and Georgia thanks to the monetary and logistic support of his paisanos, found himself jobless after a bad season for onion growers in Vidalia, Georgia, where he worked for a short period. With hopes of finding at least some day labor, he came to Atlanta with no strong connections and resorted to la esquina as his only available option. MLA: Are you now living with other fellow Mexicans too? Alberto: Here in Atlanta? No …we [he and a co-worker whom he met in Vidalia] arrived only last night and …last night we slept …ah …We arrived at eight, or eight thirty in the evening and slept at the [bus] terminal. Then, this morning, we came here [to the Catholic Mission], 'cause this guy [his trip-mate] said, “Let's go to the church, sometimes they allow us to take showers there.” And …so we've been moving and, well …we came to that place [a street intersection, i.e., la esquina] to look for a job, but we did not find any and want now to go to Virginia [where Alberto's father had recently moved from Mexico and found a job]. MLA: Where did you go to look for a job? Alberto: We went to that corner there, where I've heard that there are many people [workers/job-seekers] standing there, and …and many bolillos come to look for people to work. Although la esquina provides an easy and accessible job-seeking strategy for unskilled male workers, jobs found by these means tend to be unstable, unregulated, and often risky. At such street intersections, workers are picked at random. Thus finding employment by this means is literally a matter of luck. Ivan: Oh, yes! I have stood [at la esquina] on Monday …on Tuesday. I stood at la esquina on Tuesday and Wednesday, but they take two, three, or four [workers]. So …no. That day I


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went I stayed until twelve, one in the afternoon [and was unable to find anything]. “Luck” becomes a more significant factor when the number of migrant workers increases, which creates a “crowding effect” and reduces employment opportunities in the job market. This was at the core of Xavier's observations and complaints. When I asked him what the average wage rate was for workers who searched for temporary work at street intersections these days, he replied: Xavier: The same…even less …What happens is that now there are too many people. And …and …many people, let's say, from…Guatemala…As soon as they arrived, it went down to five 'pesos' [dollars]… They crowd the street corners and they all get on the car … They just arrived and took the salary down and now el bolillos helps them. Why? Because they take… they take five dollars an hour. For the most part, jobs found at la esquina are at the bottom of the status hierarchy, given their unstable and low-skill character and the poor working conditions that usually characterize them. At the same time, their informal, unregulated nature represents a survival strategy for sojourning immigrant laborers when other alternatives are not available. One of the most important functions of la esquina—a benefit that male laborers draw from using this job-seeking strategy—is the opportunity to make and strengthen ties of paisanaje and, in this way, build networks in the receiving community. The similar needs, circumstances, and goals of labor migrants gathering at a street intersection, with the hope of finding jobs, tends to enhance solidarity and creates the context for information exchange, mutual support, and networking. Raul: I have many friends whom I have met just moving around, because they are in las esquinas. I've met most of my friends at las esquinas. They are, well, also looking for jobs, like that. Workers who meet and spend several hours together at a street corner, sometimes unsuccessfully, normally to discuss work-related

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topics, including their labor experiences and impressions of the job market in different cities, the occupations and areas of the city where employment for immigrants is available, and their contacts with local subcontractors and fellow Mexican workers who are already settled in the U.S. Recent immigrants with no connections often learn about local organizations such as the Catholic Mission, where they can receive various services such as access to public bathrooms, food, and temporary shelter. Homeless immigrants may even find housing accommodation through paisanos they meet at la esquina. In most cases, such homeless workers are at least able to start traveling with two or three fellow migrants who, at the time, face similar circumstances. Like the soccer practice fields and community fiestas (traditional celebrations) described by Massey (1991) as spaces for networking and for the incorporation of new immigrants, la esquina is also a site for meeting people, constructing social relationships, and circulating information about jobs and services available in the community. Drawing on Xavier's words, quoted earlier, la esquina also has the potential to become an arena for economic competition, when labor supply significantly exceeds labor demand at street intersections. If both scenarios are possible, it is logical to assume that there is an inverse correlation between the size of the immigrant population in a specific labor market and the role of la esquina in enhancing solidarity amongst labor immigrants.

FROM BRACEROS TO BRACERAS: INFORMAL JOB-SEEKING STRATEGIES AMONGST FEMALE IMMIGRANTS Like men, immigrant women looking for jobs rely heavily on relatives and close friends whom they knew at home. Quite a few, especially married women, depend on their husbands' and male relations' networks for job information. In such cases, their relatives often play an active part in making the appropriate contacts, providing referrals, channeling job information and, eventually, connecting the job-seeker with a specific job.


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MLA: When did you first get a job in Atlanta? Omayra: It took me three weeks to get a job. Now I'm working but …Well, at the beginning it was fine, but now, since it is a cleaning job, there's not much work … MLA: How did you get this job? Omayra: My husband met the owner … MLA: The owner of the building you were cleaning? Omayra: No, the owner of the company where he works, and asked him if there was an opportunity to hire me to do the cleaning and he [the owner] told my husband to call him the next day. So he called and told us to come the next day, and that's how I found this job. As suggested by Omayra's case, relying only on close relations, especially male paisanos, and their respective network connections for job information is a lengthy and sometimes slow process for female immigrants. Their access to and control of information is limited, their ability to enlarge their own respective networks is reduced, and their resulting choices are few. Often, female immigrants depending on their male relatives for job information are not fully aware of the contacts and sources of information and influence mobilized by their male relatives. MLA: How long did it take you to get a job the second time you came to Atlanta? Paula: It took me about three-four months. MLA: Were you actively looking for a job during that time? Paula: No, rather the people whom …whom my brother inlaw knew. Well, he used to ask them …[I eventually found a job] through my brother in-law, through people whom he knew, I guess. Women who had close female relatives already living in the U.S. were, in general, more directly involved in job-seeking than those

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whose strong ties in the host society were men. In most cases, their strong ties with other females were their primary source of employment information. MLA: You've been applying for jobs in different stores. How did you learn that these places could have vacancies? Josefa: Through my cousin. She works and has told me that …there, where she Mexican store …that they were looking these places, normally, you don't need to Spanish.

in [clothing] stores works, since it is a for workers and in speak English, only

MLA: In how many stores have you applied for jobs so far? Josefa: I have applied …like in three. MLA: Including the store where your cousin works? Josefa: Yes. MLA: Did she recommend you with her employer? Josefa: Yes. Whether their strong ties were with males or with females, having connections and sources of referral seemed to be crucial throughout the job-seeking process. Isabel spoke about this clearly: Isabel: The main problem …when looking for a job? First of all, the language. Then, if you have no reference, if nobody has referred you, “casi nadie aquí ni te pela” [nobody pays you any attention/takes you seriously]. That is, nobody pays attention to you because, as they say, they do not even know you. I have realized that …that's the way it is. That, above all, to be hired one needs to have a friend, or at least an acquaintance who …who could recommend you to the employer in that job. Otherwise, it's not possible. Because if I go by myself just like that and ask for an application, fill it out and all that, and write my personal information and all that, and leave it, they only say …”I will call you,” but it does not go beyond that. They say that they will give you a phone call, but they never do.


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Although job-seeking strategies are relevant to the type of jobs immigrants find, the opposite also seems to be true, i.e., the types of jobs available to immigrants in an ethnic and sex-segregated labor market determine to a large extent their job-seeking patterns. Whereas there is a constant demand for male immigrant workers as manual laborers in such industries as construction and agriculture, there are few industries or employers (except in private domestic service) that draw specifically on female immigrant labor. The women I interviewed were, for the most part, applying for jobs as clerks in stores (a type of work that usually requires some degree of English proficiency, except for Hispanic businesses) and as blue-collar workers in factories, where only manual skills were required. Information about jobs in these areas circulates slowly and through limited channels. Consequently, immigrant women are more dependent on information and referrals provided by close relations who are familiar with or engage in this labor market. They often find their first job in the same business where female relatives have been working. MLA: Have you had any jobs since you arrived in Atlanta? Alicia: Yes. I was working in a factory. MLA: What kind of job did you do in this factory? Alicia: It was in a candle factory with …with aromatic candles. My job was to decorate the candles with flowers and leaves. MLA: How did you find this job? Alicia: Through my sister in-law. MLA: Your husband's sister? Alicia: Yes. MLA: Was she working there? Alicia: Yes. As in Hondagneu-Sotelo's study of immigrants in California (1994a; 1994b), Mexican immigrant women in Atlanta construct more extended and diffuse occupational networks when working in private

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domestic service. The informal arrangements typical of this type of work are analogous to the characteristics of immigrant men's employment in construction and agriculture. Thus, domestic workers' networks include not only relatives and friends, but also neighbors, co-workers, acquaintances, and sometimes employers. Ana, a divorcee who makes her living by babysitting her friends' and acquaintances' children, provides a relevant example. Ana: …she [a friend with whom she had shared an apartment] is now working, and sometimes I babysit for her. Or …sometimes …I also babysit [for other people] and I can make some $50 per week. MLA: How do you find out about people who need babysitters? Ana: Because …well, my relatives, like this friend I told you …I also have other friends. And she let's me know [when there is an opportunity to babysit] …She tells her friends and …it goes like that. “I have a friend who needs money and …the only way I can help her is finding children for her to baby-sit because that's the only thing she can do.” She explains to them, right? At the time of this interview, Ana was suffering from a serious respiratory illness after working in an ammoniac factory. It became apparent during our conversation that her intermittent work as a babysitter was mostly arranged with the direct help of her former housemate. Other female immigrants who also made their living through private domestic service often obtained information about job opportunities through weak ties. Lisa: …in the beauty salon, while getting a hair cut, I met a Nicaraguan lady who was pregnant, and we started to talk. MLA: A beauty salon located here in Smyrna? [a neighborhood in north metropolitan Atlanta where Lisa was living].


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Lisa: Yes. Then we started to chat and she told me that she needed to hire somebody to help her, since she was pregnant and was not feeling well. So I told her “Yes! I'm coming with you!” …That's how I started. She lives close to my house, thus, she used to pick me up to take me to her house …She started by paying me $150 per week, and I was happy because I used to earn that before and it was a lot. Lorena, who worked as a private domestic servant while staying in California, found her first job as a maid through a radio advertisement. However, once she started, networking within the loosely connected web of fellow domestic servants became her primary job-mobility strategy. Lorena: …I used to listen to the radio where they normally advertised jobs. And I heard they were advertising a job as babysitter, to take care of a baby for two months. And I went and the lady was Salvadoran and gave me the job. Sometimes, this lady …the mother of the baby, who works as a house cleaner …some Saturdays that I did not have to work for her, she would take me to clean houses, to clean a house with her. That way I would earn a bit more. By that time she was paying me $60 per week to take care of her child. Then she would give me [another] $20 when I had helped her to clean the house where she used to work. Because she had to clean it every fifteen days and, when it was time to go, she would take me with her. As shown in this excerpt, informal subcontracting is not uncommon amongst private domestic workers of Hispanic origin. As with the construction industry, the more flexible organization of work in private domestic service allows for team work and informal hiring arrangements. Lisa's case is also relevant in this regard. She found various cleaning jobs through her landlady's mother in-law, who was also working as a private maid. Lisa: She [her landlady] used to live with her mother in-law …but [the mother in-law] was getting ready to travel to Costa

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market Rica. She met me and we started to talk, and she told me that she could pass me her houses [her various jobs cleaning houses], where she was working, doing the cleaning.

The informational networks in private domestic service in Atlanta also include female employers, who consult one another when looking for domestic workers and, in this way, help circulate information about job opportunities amongst their maids. MLA: How do you travel to your work place? Lisa: By bus …by MARTA. I have to take two buses and one train …after that, the ladies pick me up at the [train] station and take me to their houses. MLA: Are these houses close to one another? Lisa: Yes, they are close. MLA: In the same neighborhood? Lisa: Yes. They all live in the same neighborhood, they are friends and …I believe that they became connected with one another, I don't know, they started to pass referrals amongst themselves. Unlike men's occupational networks in the construction industry, which are usually dense, multi-faceted, and sustained and strengthened by ties of paisanaje, domestic workers' networks tend to be more heterogeneous and diffuse, and less binding. As seen in the previous excerpts, they involve not only Mexican immigrants but also Hispanic women of other nationalities as well. The ties amongst different members of the network are sometimes weak (e.g., when “a friend of a friend” helps an immigrant woman find a cleaning job) and seem to be primarily based on impersonal, occupational relationships geared towards job-related goals. Employers seem to be more central in the networking process when compared with the “patrones” (contractors) in construction, since the “patronas” hiring domestic service often help circulate information within their own employer networks. In general, female immigrants doing wage-labor in private households seem to have better access to job information than women


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participating in the formal economy (stores, restaurants, or factories). Demand for immigrant labor in these areas of the economy seems to be limited, and information about job opportunities circulates slowly and through limited avenues. Alicia, cited earlier, illustrates this point. MLA: In the candle factory, were there other Mexican women working, besides your sister in-law? Alicia: Yes, many, there were many… MLA: While you were working in this candle factory, did you make any acquaintances or friends who could now help you, for example, giving you a ride if need be, or providing you with job information? Alicia: No, because they live very far away. MLA: Have you at least stayed in touch with any of them? Alicia: With only two of them. MLA: Have they helped you in any way? Alicia: Well, they alert me when …when they know of a factory that needs people to work and …and I go but …no. Under such circumstances, many female immigrants resort to asking for information amongst strangers they meet by chance in public places. Ana, for example, was compelled to rely on this networking strategy for several years and eventually ended up babysitting for her friends' children. MLA: How long did it take you to find that job in the [ammoniac] factory? Ana: Like …two months. MLA: How did you carry out your search? Ana: Well, I used to go…if somebody told me about a job, I would go [to that place]. I had to take MARTA [public transportation] and…I had to get to the place I was referred to. MLA: Who would provide you with job information?

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market Ana: Ah …well …some people that I would meet [in public places] and I would ask them about jobs.

The limited potential of these weak links as sources of employment illustrates the inefficacy of weak ties amongst recent immigrants looking for jobs. Moreover, such brief interactions are usually not binding, regardless of national origin of the parties. Unlike male immigrants in la esquina, females who request job information from strangers in public places seldom develop ties of paisanaje or enlarge their personal and occupational networks through such coincidental encounters. Important conclusions emerge from these findings. First, recent Mexican immigrants in Atlanta, both men and women, tend to rely on strong connections, including relatives, close friends, and paisanos, as sources of job information and referral. Second, despite the centrality of strong ties for immigrants of both sexes, networking strategies vary according to gender. Third, male Mexican immigrants have access to larger, more heterogeneous, and more loosely interconnected networks than their female counterparts. Thus, gender appears to be one of the central dimensions defining Mexican immigrants’ job-seeking patterns and paths to employment in the host society.

CHAPTER 7

The Strength of Strong Ties: Men’s Stories Of Paisanaje

The description and discussion of my findings in this chapter is divided into three major sections that include a case study and cross-sectional analyses of employment yields according to networking strategies. Given that undocumented immigrants often operate in the margins of the formal economy, their work history sometimes consists of a sequence of temporary, unregulated jobs paid in cash, such as cleaning, gardening, and various unskilled occupations in agriculture or construction. Thus, even though my primary interest is in the informants' first job, I will often make reference to the various jobs some immigrants held during their first months in Atlanta.

HERMANOS QUE DAN LA MANO: CASE STUDY OF AN IMMIGRANT SUPPORTED BY HIS PAISANOS Jorge migrated to the U.S. in search of a better life for him and his family just two months prior to our interview. Since he perceived his stay in the U.S. as temporary, his wife and children remained in San Luis Potosí. He crossed the Mexico-U.S. border with a friend who had come back to Mexico for a short visit after living as an illegal immigrant in the U.S. for eight years. Even though Jorge also entered as an undocumented worker and did not speak any English, he found employment in construction almost immediately after his arrival in Atlanta and held two more jobs during his first two months in town. Throughout our conversation, his friendship with an already established immigrant as well as his involvement in a dense network of conationals emerged as a salient dimension of his experience in the U.S. 125

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market MLA: How did you manage to come to the U.S.? And why the decision to come to Atlanta? Jorge: Well, first of all, I came encouraged by …I mean, I used to see in the area I come from that people would arrive with good cars, with money, with houses … MLA: Do you mean people who were living in the U.S.? Jorge: [People] who had lived here, yeah, and I came as an illegal and …there [in Mexico] people arrive who say that they can help us cross and …and they charge us and we arrive here. We crossed through Texas. MLA: Did you know anybody when you first came to Atlanta? Jorge: Yes, I mean, as a matter of fact, everyone …most of the people who come here need to know somebody because …it's too difficult to arrive and remain in the streets or to get a job …Well, when one of them [a friend] went there [to Mexico], he said that whenever I needed to come …that he could help me. Of course, I would later pay him, right? But he …he would take care of me. And he did. He fulfilled his promise. MLA: How did he take care of you? What help did he give you when you made the decision to come? Jorge: Well, he gave me money to pay for the trip … In addition to financial assistance, Jorge’s contact in Atlanta provided him with a variety of material resources that were critical to his arrival and settlement in the U.S. MLA: And when you first arrived here, did your friend host you? Jorge: Yes, he hosted me and found a job for me …From the moment I arrived, he offered me his hospitality, and in fact I'm now living with him.

In several instances, like Jorge’s, the hospitality that characterizes relationships between friends entails obligation and a significant level


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of social responsibility, which compels paisanos to take responsibility for helping recent immigrants Jorge: …he said, you will leave here and now you can start preparing because tomorrow you’ll start work. He took us [Jorge and another paisano] to buy some clothing …because most immigrants, like myself, only bring the clothes they have on …So, we went to a second hand store and he bought us clothes to work. He gave us pants and socks … MLA: Did he pay for everything? Jorge: Yes, he did. Having strong ties in the receiving society offered Jorge the logistic support to make the transition between Mexico and the U.S. as an undocumented immigrant. As exemplified by his quick job allocation, Jorge’s strong ties were also efficient means of job information and referral. MLA: How long did it take you to get a job? Jorge: Well, as soon as I arrived …the next day. MLA: Did you find that job thanks to your friend? Jorge: Yes, he contracted me. I have had three jobs. I have realized that many people here work at different things, on the first thing they find, right? MLA: What kinds of jobs did you do? Jorge: First, I worked in sheetrock. They used to pay me $40 per day, and I understand that I didn’t know much, but that was too little. After that I worked in carpentry and then in construction. MLA: How long did it take you to move from sheetrock to carpentry? How long between the first and second job? Jorge: Well, just like four days, or three days. MLA: And how did you find your second job?

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market Jorge: With the help of friends…that is through friends, yes… I mean … through neighbors that, well… MLA: Friends whom you had made in Mexico? Jorge: No, whom …whom I met here. I met them here. MLA: That means that …right from the first week you arrived in Atlanta you started to make friends …? How did you meet these friends? Jorge: They are neighbors …that is …they are from my township. “Hey, so and so has arrived from such and such town…oh, yes, in fact.” Generally there are 6-8 people in an apartment …Then, these people …some work with different employers…yes…then one hears, well, there is a vacancy…we need one person to help us. And that's how they send somebody. “Ah! you know what? I know a guy who doesn't have a job…let's bring him.” The trick is to meet people. If you don’t know people you won’t find a job…[I advise newcomers] to start moving within the Latino community. ———— MLA: So, what was your third job? Jorge: …in construction. MLA: And all those jobs you’ve found through … Jorge: Through family and friends …through friends, yes. MLA: Has any American helped you to find any jobs? Jorge: No …No, because …since I don’t know how to speak English …


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TIES THAT BIND: RELATIVES AND FRIENDS AS WORK LINKS My basic argument that strong ties are fundamental means of job information and referral for recent Mexican immigrants in Atlanta found support in the data. However, as I will describe later, there was significant variability by gender in the effectiveness of strong ties. The majority of immigrants who found their first jobs within a week's time did so with the help of their relatives and friends. Furthermore, the stories narrated by the informants suggest that the large-scale migration and labor market incorporation of Mexican unskilled immigrants, especially the undocumented, is only viable through strong ties. The reciprocity expectations that characterize relationships between friends and paisanos provide Mexican immigrants with the logistic support and organizational framework to negotiate their entrance into the host economy. In contrast, weak ties, when present, are unlikely to offer the kind of knowledge that facilitates the entrance of new immigrants into the host economy, including employment tips and information about viable jobs in a labor market segregated along ethnic and nationality lines. Accordingly, only eight informants indicated that they had relied on weak ties (i.e., people whom they defined as acquaintances) for job information. As expected, such relations were not useful work links. The following example illustrates: MLA: How long did it take you to get a job the second time you came to Atlanta? Paula: It took me about three-four months. MLA: Were you actively looking for a job during that time? Paula: No, rather the people whom …whom my brother inlaw knew, well, he used to ask them …[I eventually found a job] through my brother in-law, through people whom he knew, I guess. The small number of informants who relied on weak ties provides limited information if we were to assess the effectiveness of such connections relative to strong ties. Yet, their negligible presence is also

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an indicator of their irrelevance as a networking strategy among recent immigrants. The lived experiences of the immigrants suggest that regular migration between Mexico and the U.S. is made possible by a tightly woven web of strong relationships, sustained by reciprocal obligations. As noted earlier, strong ties are effective means of labor market incorporation for recent immigrants because they function as spearheads in an ethnically stratified labor market. Therefore, the frequency of strong ties among the informants is explained by the fact that weak ties tend to play a marginal role in circulating information between sending and receiving communities in Mexico and the U.S., respectively. Of thirteen immigrants who found work during their first week in Atlanta, nine had used their strong ties as an entry gate into the host labor market. In this regard, relatives who had migrated first and found work within specific industries were especially expedient in connecting recent immigrants with the local job market. Norberto, for example, migrated to Atlanta to join his two brothers who were working in a blacksmith's shop. Upon his arrival, Norberto's relatives provided him with financial support and a place to stay, helped him find a job, and trained him in the blacksmith's craft. Although Norberto came with the intention of finding a job in construction—his occupation in Mexico— his strong ties in Atlanta allowed him to start working as a blacksmith on his second day in town. MLA: Did you start your work in the blacksmith's shop soon after your arrival in Atlanta or did it take you some time to be hired? Norberto: No …”luego-luego” [right away]. I arrived on Sunday and started to work on Monday. Like relatives, friends often provided recent immigrants with the resources, referrals, and connections necessary for their initial settlement in Atlanta. As noted earlier, some informants were offered jobs in Atlanta even before their departure from Mexico, thanks to the influence of their pals who were already established in the host job market. Thus, among immigrants who had no family in the U.S., the presence of close friends


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with experience, connections, and stable jobs in Atlanta posed an advantage in terms of promptly finding work. Lisandro: Well, [I came] to Atlanta because…my friends brought me here. MLA: Had your friends already been to Atlanta? Lisandro: Yes. MLA: What had they told you about Atlanta? Lisandro: Ah…well that…It was not a specific offer, let's say, to get quick and easy money, but…[they said] that the wages, compared to what we earn in Mexico, was better here. MLA: Did you already have a job when you came to Atlanta? Lisandro: I already …had my job when I arrived. MLA: How did you obtain this job? Lisandro: My friends were already working in … construction. MLA: So, they had promised that they would get you a job? Lisandro: Yes, they had told me that there were jobs here. MLA: Did you know that there were jobs or did you have a job? Lisandro: No, no. I did not have one, as such, but …but I already knew that I could find one pretty easily … MLA: So, how long did it take you to get your first job? Lisandro: Ah …almost right away, three days after I arrived I was already working. MLA: In construction? Lisandro: Yes…they [his friends] took me with them. For immigrants who arrive in the U.S. without a visa or work permit, with little or no proficiency in English, and without previous experience with the local labor market, strong ties help to compensate

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for their disadvantaged status. Strong ties are instrumental not only in connecting recent immigrants with jobs, but also in providing them with the material resources, guidance, and job training that allows for a smooth incorporation in the receiving community. MLA: Why did you decide to come to Atlanta in particular? Julian: Well, in fact, I had some …well I have some friends here. They were the ones who invited me to come here. MLA: Were your friends already working here? Julian: Yes, they already were …they are already residents here. They have been here for several years. MLA: And what had they told you about the employment situation in this place? Julian: Well, that it was very good and that …if I wanted, I could also come here. So we [he and his cousin] decided to come here. MLA: Did your friends pay for the crossing? Julian: I crossed the border, yes. I …in fact, well, ah …well I had some savings there [in Mexico]. And we had to use them to pay for the journey, basically. Yes, I mean, in fact, because of that there wasn’t …there wasn’t much problem for me. They received us in their house, and all that. MLA: Did you stay in your friends’ house? Julian: Yes, thank God. I mean, that’s why I did not suffer, because …well I came almost …I mean that I did not come as an adventurer. Because there are many people who come as an adventure and …they suffer. I, thank God, I had somebody to wait for me. MLA: And …your friends already had a job for you or you came to look for a job? Julian: In fact, since they are also mechanics, yes. They already had a job for me.


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MLA: Did they already have a job for you in the shop were they were working? Julian: Yes. MLA: Did they have their own shop or were they working for somebody else? Julian: No, they were working for another person. MLA: Were you able to speak English when you arrived? Julian: Ah …no. No. MLA: Was that not a problem for you? Julian: No, because…since they, themselves…I was working with them and…they translated for me. Of course! I had to learn English. To teach myself the most basic things, mainly. Because, you know, here that is important. The examples of Jorge, Norberto, Lisandro, and Julian indicate that the strength of strong ties lies in their capacity to provide immigrants with initial contacts and useful information about the receiving job market when assessing the costs and benefits of crossing the border towards different locations in the U.S. For a recent immigrant, strong ties offer not only information about specific job openings, but also a frame of reference that supports and eases their adjustment into a new society. In contrast, weak ties, when available, seem not very helpful in the job-seeking process and overall incorporation of the informants in their new community. In addition to expediting recent immigrants' labor market incorporation, strong ties appeared to be quite instrumental in connecting new arrivals with fellow labor migrants who provided information about jobs in different industries. Norberto, cited earlier, was eventually able to get a job in construction through his brothers' friends and acquaintances within the immigrant community. Norberto: I have been five years [in Atlanta]; it will be five years in August. From there [while working eight months in metal-working and subsequently as a cook in a hotel] I started to move around with …I mean he [one of his brothers] would

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market take me wherever he went. He used to take me with him and, well, I would meet people, well, people working in construction, and I used to ask them whether they knew of any job through their relatives, cousins, paisanos …”Hey, ask your 'patron' if he might need somebody to help him.” And that's how I left the hotel and started to work in construction … MLA: Why did you decide to take a job in construction? Norberto: Because construction paid better. MLA: How did you get that job in construction? Norberto: Through a paisano who stayed there, in that same house, in the apartment where we were living …And so I asked him …I told him that I was working at night for almost a year and I didn't like to work at night. And I told him, “You know what, tell your patron if he wants to hire somebody else, so that I can come with you …I have lost count of how long I worked there with his patron. There, you know, I learnt new things and …moved to another job, a better paying job. MLA: Where are you currently working? Norberto: In construction. MLA: So, you have found all your jobs through paisanos? Norberto: Yes. Paisanos who…well, they were already there …they move back and forth and…well, they know…I mean, one also knows, since one is also moving around back and forth…But since we all live in the same house…As you see, with me, there are…four or five and sometimes when there is work we all go.

The common practice of sharing an apartment with other fellow laborers usually facilitates the fluid exchange of job information. The strong sense of commitment among relatives, friends, and paisanos tends to make network building and expansion more viable for recent immigrants. This point was well illustrated by Jorge in the previous section.


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Even though not all informants found their friends and relatives to be equally helpful, the stories cited in this section provide relevant insights into the mechanisms through which strong ties assist migrant workers. In other words, these examples help us understand the nature of the strength of strong ties, as they illustrate the way recent immigrants use and transform their strong connections into work links. In this regard, these findings lend support to my hypothesis that kinship and friendship ties entail an intense flow of exchanges and, consequently, a wealth of social capital for new immigrants. The question remains whether strong ties among Mexican immigrants are not only strengthened, but also transformed into “bridges” that connect recent immigrants with other fellow workers who have access to a more diverse pool of information about jobs.

WHAT MATTERS IS WHO YOU KNOW… In his theory about the strength of weak ties, Granovetter (1972) defines a bridge as “…a line in a network which provides the only path between two points” (Granovetter 1972: 1364). In this regard, he asserts, “…except under unlikely conditions, no strong tie is a bridge” (p. 1363). The rationale behind this assertion is that people connected by strong ties are likely to be part of the same close-knit network. Drawing on various studies of social networks, Granovetter argues that the stronger the ties connecting two individuals, the higher the likelihood that they will be similar in various ways. “ …If strong ties connect A and B and A and C, both C and B, being similar to A, are probably similar to one another, increasing the likelihood of friendship once they have met” (p. 1362). The limited bridging capacity of strong ties specifically derives from the logical expectation that people belonging to the same strongly tied network are likely to have access to the same pool of resources and information. Granovetter illustrates this idea through a familiar situation: “If one tells a rumor to all his close friends, and they do likewise, many will hear the rumor a second and third time, since those linked by strong ties tend to share friends” (p.1366). Therefore, strong ties are neither a unique nor an efficient path for the diffusion of new ideas; i.e., “ …except under unlikely conditions, no strong tie is a bridge” (p.1366).

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The stories narrated by the informants support my argument that recent immigrants find themselves in peculiar situations that are unlikely to apply to non-immigrant workers. These include, first, no initial connections within the host society, except for any paisanos whom they might have already known in Mexico; second, limited English proficiency, which hinders communication and effective networking with non-Spanish speaking people; third, lack of official work permits, which compels undocumented workers to look for jobs in the underground economy. Unskilled immigrants' unique circumstances, consequently, hamper their flexibility during the job search, as well as their ability to trust, develop, and draw any special benefits from ties outside the immigrant community. Furthermore, their marginality with regard to mainstream employment decreases the viability of any such weak connections as conduits to specific jobs, i.e., to work opportunities that require neither legal documents nor proficiency in English. On the other hand, similarly positioned friends and paisanos are more likely to gravitate toward jobs in which recent immigrants have higher prospects of being hired. Accordingly, relatives and friends represent an accessible entry door into a host labor market segmented along ethnic and nationality lines. In most cases, strong ties are also the path connecting recent immigrants to other fellow laborers as potential sources of job information, experience, and contacts within various different occupational niches. In this regard, my findings suggest that the unique circumstances of the immigrant context transform strong ties into potential bridges for newcomer immigrant workers. From this standpoint, weak ties seem to be of little help and not very functional as sources of job information and referral. While my sample did not include a significant number of workers who relied on weak ties, the experiences of the informants suggest that they are not suitable means of employment for recent immigrants. Furthermore, the development of weak ties seems to be unlikely given the undocumented status and overall alienation of the study immigrants with regard to mainstream social networks in Atlanta. Thus, the dynamics of the immigrant context seems to render weak ties unfit as bridges between job seekers and sources of job information. However, the bridging capacity of strong ties is contingent upon the previous existence of a dense network of migrant workers, with experience and contacts in areas of the market that depend on abundant low-wage migrant labor.


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In Metropolitan Atlanta and some of its surrounding counties, industries such as construction, carpets, onions, and poultry provide suitable conditions in this regard. In the last decade, the growth of the construction, textile, food, and meatpacking industries in Georgia has been strongly related to the inexpensive labor of migrant workers and the development of immigrant network that keep replenishing the pool of available laborers. Carpet companies in Dalton County, for example, are known to hire undocumented Mexican workers, who are deemed by corporate executives as the “lifeblood” of the industry (Engstrom 2001: 50-51). A recent incident involving the INS in the Vidalia onion fields in South Georgia clearly illustrates the convenient reliance of some companies on undocumented workers. After INS officials raided the onion fields where large numbers of Mexican migrants worked, they agreed to grant growers a grace period so that the harvest could be completed (Duchon and Murphy 2001: 8). In addition to overlooking the immigrant status of their workers, some of these companies implement special policies to accommodate migrant laborers. A poultry plant in Northeast Georgia, for example, allowed tenured workers to take one week of unpaid labor in addition to their regular vacation time, so that they could visit Mexico for two weeks and still keep their jobs (Guthey 2001: 60). The subcontracting system in the construction industry also attracts and provides a secure niche for migrant workers, as it allows undocumented laborers to operate in the margins of the formal economy. In general, a high proportion of the work force in construction, carpet, agriculture, and chicken-packing plants is composed of seasonal labor migrants subcontracted on a temporary basis, who tend to move between companies and job sites in both urban and suburban areas of Georgia. In the process, they become part of a floating, loosely interconnected occupational network and maintain an accessible pool of contacts with fellow migrant workers and subcontractors in the abovementioned industries. Hence, I conclude that a strong tie becomes a bridge when it fulfills two sets of circumstances: first, when the job seeker is alienated from mainstream networks (such as undocumented or non-English speaking immigrants); second, when it is part of a dense and dynamic occupational network (such as a web of migrant workers employed in industries colonized by immigrants). Thus, workers whose relatives or friends have jobs in construction, the carpet industry, agriculture, or

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meatpacking are in a better position to transform their strong ties into an effective “bridge” to occupational networks and viable job opportunities in the receiving society. In contrast, job-seekers who aspire to jobs in industries where immigrant labor is not central to the company's profitability are less likely to make an effective “crossing” into the host community and labor market through their strong ties.

CHAPTER 8

Los Esquinados: “Free Men” in a Wild Market

The stories contained in this chapter provide a good example of the difficulties faced by male immigrants who arrive in the U.S. without strong network ties. Here we will also describe how Mexican men who lack connections in the receiving community look for jobs and develop ties of paisanaje with fellow immigrants in street corners and public locations where they gather hoping to be hire for day labor. Like in chapter VI, I start with a case study and then draw on interviews with various informants that allow to make comparisons across cases.

THE LONG AND LONELY ROAD: CASE STUDY OF AN IMMIGRANT WITHOUT NETWORK TIES IN THE U.S. In sharp contrast with the examples cited in the previous chapter is the situation of those informants who arrived in the U.S. without the help of relatives or friends and with no connections with their Mexican paisanos. Pedro’s case provides an extreme illustration of the difficulties encountered by immigrants lacking strong ties in the receiving society. Even though he undertook the journey across the Mexico-U.S. border in the company of a friend, they lost contact with each other while trying to avoid immigration authorities during the border crossing. He explained: Pedro: I don’t have any family here, nothing …That is, nobody to take care of paying the coyote, as they call it. So, since I did not have anybody to pay for me and stuff, I had to walk a long stretch to reach the train station, that is, already on 139

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market this side. Arriving there I had to get on the train, hide in some place to arrive in Los Angeles …that’s how I did it. MLA: Then, when you arrived in Los Angeles, was there somebody you knew there? Did you know anybody? Pedro: No. MLA: So, how did you manage when you first arrived? Pedro: I arrived …around …well, he [the friend who started the journey with him] had already told me how things would be here …and that’s how I was caught something like ten times by immigration [immigration officials]. So, from all those occasions, he would tell me, “in the event that we miss each other …you try to enter …” He told me how the road was and that’s how I arrived in Los Angeles …I was there [in the train] like two nights and one day. I arrived that day, at night. MLA: Where did you stay? Pedro: In the streets, the same! Then, without money, without anything I started to walk in search of a job, but nothing …Then …just taking rides …I arrived in Fresno. I worked about 15 days in Fresno …or a month. But some ‘yarderos’ [lawn] did not pay me. MLA: How did you get that job in Fresno? Pedro: Like that …walking …I found some gardeners and I asked them if they might have a job for me. MLA: Were they Mexican? Pedro: Yes …and they answered yes. So, as I told you, I worked there like 15 days, or 20 …I think for about a month, and they were not paying me. Then, with the little they gave me, I left. MLA: Where did you stay while you were in Fresno? I mean …if they were not paying you and you did not bring any money, where did you stay at night?


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Pedro: Well, in the streets, the same. They [lawn] would just tell me where they would pick me up and I would arrive at the time they indicated and they would come to pick me up. MLA: So, they did not pay you …They made you work without paying you? What did you do then? Pedro: Well …nothing, what else. Since, what could I tell them …Then after that, wandering for some days, who knows, I did not even know where I was and then …a ‘trailero’ [truck driver] brought me here. MLA: A Mexican truck driver? Pedro: No, an American. MLA: So, how did you communicate with this American …do you speak English? Pedro: I understand a little bit. From Fresno, Pedro found rides that took him to Chicago. His experience in the north was not different from that in California and Fresno. MLA: Did you have the chance to meet anyone in Chicago? To make friends or acquaintances? Pedro: No, not really. I arrived and …well, there were a lot of people there …I started to look for a job in construction, but there were only Americans and …well, they could not tell me. I asked them if they had any jobs for me or something …I stayed only about three days or two before I came here. Pedro’s travels also led him to Atlanta and North Carolina. Although he had several temporary jobs, he was often required to work over eight hours a day for a meager salary. Pedro: Since I was staying in the streets, I decided to move here [Atlanta] because I was told that there were many jobs here, and that’s how I came here. I arrived in the airport and a man told me that it would be better if I came here, to the last train station, that is Doraville, that there were many Mexicans

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market here and that they might be able to help me. So I arrived here on a Wednesday around eleven at night and there was nobody and I had to sleep in the back [of La Misión]. The next day I came to check if they could help me here. They told me that there was an office here [an employment agency right by La Misión] where they could give me job information. But …there was almost nothing …Then somebody had brought some fliers here [at La Misión, announcing a job] to go clean some …some stadiums …I worked there like three days, but I was not well-paid and it was a lot of work. And then they did not give us anything to eat. After that I went to North Carolina where I was offered a job and I didn’t like it either. I worked for one week and they only paid me seven dollars, because according to them they were charging me for having given me that job. I stayed only a few more days to make enough money to buy a ticket [to come back to Atlanta].

Pedro eventually met other Mexican immigrants on a street corner in Atlanta who allowed him to share an apartment with them and helped him find a job. However, in the process of becoming acquainted with the new place and developing a support network, he was compelled to take rides from strangers in order to move between locations, sleep in the streets, and eat whatever he could find in garbage cans. Pedro: I started to hoping to find something, 'cause I said to myself: “I have to start looking for a job because it will soon be dark …before night finds me here …” And I wandered all around that area down there and that's how I met some men from Guanajuato, those that I mentioned to you earlier, those that work in roofing, those “ruferos,” as they say. Those men gave me a job and …then they realized [my situation] and let me stay there in their house. That is, there are several guys living there and they told me “Here we're all quiet …” I said, “Well, with me, there will be no problem.” And he told me, “We all share when the bills come, the same when it's time to pay the rent and the same with our meals. We bring food and say, 'It was this much,' and each pays his share, depending on how many we are and how much the bill is.”


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MLA: And that's where you are living now? With them? Pedro: Yes. Although Pedro’s case was not exceptional, it was probably the most extreme. In this sense, his story helps to illustrate the perils that recent immigrants confront outside of their co-ethnic network and the isolation of a new immigrant’s experience when nobody awaits for him. Furthermore, his story shows not only the importance of having strong ties in the receiving society but also the difficulties of developing weak ties, or any meaningful or instrumental relationships, without the mediation of already established paisanos.

STREET CORNER SOCIOLOGY: UNDERSTANDING LA ESQUINA AS A JOB MARKET Like Pedro, other male informants who did not have strong connections upon arrival in the U.S. had to draw on previously unknown paisanaje to construct a network and find a means of survival. In this regard, la esquina (the street corner) constitutes a suitable site for meeting immigrant job seekers and cultivate ties of paisanaje. However, workers who resort to the street corner as a job-seeking strategy are often outside immigrant occupational networks. Consequently, they have few resources with to employment information and labor market contacts. The following example illustrates this point: Tito: …There are many, many unemployed people too. For example, in the gas stations as I’m telling you, there are many unemployed people. MLA: Why do you think that there are so many jobless immigrants in Atlanta? Tito: That’s for this same reason I’m telling you, that some of us come and …you don’t know anything, and does not speak English, or anything. Then it happens that you go to the corners, to the easiest, to patrones that say, “Come, I will employ you, I will …” They pay you eight dollars an hour to

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market clean here, clean there, and all that …you don’t need to speak much English, nothing.

Although places like gas stations and street corners serve a function as meeting places for paisanos lacking strong connections in Atlanta, these public locations are more useful as a general networking resource than as an effective job-seeking method. Fellow immigrants meeting at such places may eventually become useful contacts for one another, particularly if they see each other more than once at the same place and relationships develop. However, most of the informants who sought jobs at street corners seemed to be highly mobile due to the instability of their living conditions. Thus, most workers who use this job-seeking strategy are, basically, at the mercy of sporadic employers and the fluctuations of an irregular and unregulated job market. As a gathering place for recent and jobless immigrants, unskilled workers, and sojourners, la esquina also contributes to the consolidation of a reserve army of workers that constitute an accessible pool of cheap labor. Raul: Let me tell you something: here …here in Atlanta, I’ve observed that …like …in the street corners, almost …there is no work, work is very scarce. MLA: Really? Is it that employers do not come to pick people up? Raul: There’s very little. They do come but …as they come there are many …many people . . Waiting to be hired by an anonymous employer at a public place entails a very unstructured and unpredictable job-seeking method. La esquina is an unruly job market where human capital in the form of skills, school education, job training, or experience is irrelevant in the “application” process. In fact, “applying” for a job at a street corner looks like a chaotic process to the passerby. In this regard, a passage from my field notes reads as follows: It’s Wednesday and I’ve come early to Doraville. I parked at the Flea Market on Buford Highway and started to walk at a


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relatively slow pace, in order to mix-in with the people on their way to …where? Work? The “ethnic store”? Nowhere? People in the crowd at that gas station, about half a block from where I am, look like those who may be going “somewhere” or “nowhere.” I bet they don’t know. An old-looking pick up starts to slow down, and as the driver moves towards the window on his right hand side, the brown human mass surrounds the vehicle. It’s hard to tell how many they are from a distance—a group of undifferentiated eager hands looking for a job to occupy them …at least for one day? I wonder. The pick up enters the gas station and the driver steps down. It seems that the members of the crowd are trying to assert their individuality. I cannot hear what they say, but they seem aggressive in their business. After a brief exchange, three men get on the back of the truck that takes off as mysteriously as it came. I see the rest of the people slowly disperse, still in the area of the gas station, returning to their anonymity. Some remain sitting around. I guess this is what “business as usual” means for many. It seems I’ll miss a good chance to have a chat with those left behind. I feel bad for them and decide not to intrude. While I’ve had no problem asking the men about their experiences when we meet at La Misión, it seems that my status as a woman makes it awkward to approach them in this context and start a conversation. The context would make my position of “researcher” more visible (or, at least, it would make me more self-conscious) and I would not like that. Thus, I’ve come back to my rental car to take these notes before the first impression vanishes. Given the marginal and risky character of the street corner as a job market, workers resort to looking for jobs in these public locations as a survival strategy, without conditions or expectations in terms of compensation, stability, on the risks involved in the work. Workers who have alternative means of finding work tend to avoid the use of this strategy as much as possible. Hernan, one of the few collegeeducated immigrants in my sample, described this job-seeking strategy not only as ineffective in terms of employment, but also as degrading,

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given the tortuous process of competing for employment in a public place. His description closely resembles my field observations: Hernan: I found it denigrating to see people [Mexican immigrants] just sitting there, waiting for a truck to pick them up. [I used to see that] as soon as a pickup representing a job possibility arrived, they would run in a mad rush to jumble around the driver and tell them that they could do the job, without even knowing what they would do …I found that way of looking for jobs denigrating, well, humiliating …And they are young people whom …I see all those people and I don’t know what they’re thinking. They come to …I don’t know what they come to do, if they come to survive here or do not have a forward attitude, they come to survive only …They work two, three days and …the remaining time I don’t know From the standpoint of the workers, the availability of jobs at la esquina is variable, depending on supply and demand in the different locations where they wait to be hired. Like most jobs at the bottom of the queue, these tend to be temporary, low-paid, physically demanding, and often risky. Thus, as a job seeking strategy, la esquina yields only a number of short-term manual jobs, whose working conditions and remuneration are, for the most part, arbitrary. Xavier: I’ve been here …about three months. Interviewer: Have you had any jobs during these three months? Xavier: Well …if you work in one week …if you work it’s like three days or two …two days, only. MLA: Doing what? Xavier: Doing everything …moving like …moving, in sheetrock, in gardening …in construction or in whatever comes up. MLA: About how much are they paying now?


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Xavier: The same …even less …Yes, even less. What happens is that now there are too many people. And …and …many people, let's say, from …from Guatemala [ …] Just as they arrived, it went down to five 'pesos' [most likely meaning dollars]. MLA: So the pay has gone down … Xavier: Yes, it has gone down …Then, they are quite “cismosos” … MLA: What do you mean? Xavier: “Cismosos.” That is, they crowd the corners and they all get on the car. “La esquina” represents, for the most part, an ethnically segregated labor market, given the informal character of jobs available at such site. Jobs offered in “las esquinas” typically entail seasonality, no written or otherwise formal contractual relationship, and no work benefits, thus attracting and involving mainly workers at the bottom of the labor queue, especially undocumented immigrants. Although other low-skill jobs that occupy large numbers of immigrant workers in Atlanta may also be representative of a secondary labor market, the typical job available at “la esquina” seems to be a step down in the hierarchy. Unpredictability is the defining characteristic regarding this category of jobs. Depending on the dynamism of the job market at a given street corner or public location on a given day, a migrant worker may or may not find work. If there is no luck in securing employment, there is most likely no indication of when and where an opportunity will arise. Furthermore, as five, ten, or fifteen workers struggle for visibility around a potential employer, who will make his hiring decision within a few minutes, there is little opportunity for negotiating pay, hours, or job length, regardless of the workers experience and skills. From the various cases examined so far in this chapter, the emerging pattern seems to support my general hypotheses. Whereas most interviewed workers were concentrated in jobs that had limited benefits and job-ladders, having connections within a given occupational network was a crucial factor in the potential stability and monetary returns of the job.

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market MLA: And those who come to hire workers in places like shopping centers, aren’t they looking for people precisely in jobs such as construction? Hernan: No, no. Activity there is very variable. Construction …not much. Most of the time [they hire people in] “yarda.” MLA: By yarda do you mean lawn-cutting? Hernan: Yes, gardening. Or, for example, [they hire people for] moving, cleaning… For household jobs. If they need somebody for construction jobs they wouldn’t want the person for only a day or two. They would want somebody on a more permanent basis, for a longer time, but not for a day only… [People hired in construction] are picked up at their residences [as opposed to a street, shopping center, or gas station] and the relationship is more stable…

In this regard, having the support of already established relatives or friends proved to be instrumental for recent immigrants in several ways. First, these strong ties not only provide job information, but they also tend to take an active role in integrating their recently arrived paisanos into already existing social and occupational networks. Second, the camaraderie that characterizes strong ties among immigrants creates solidarity in the form of job training and socialization, which is significant for new immigrants’ adaptation to the labor market. Third, the assistance provided by relatives and friends is not limited to job information, training, and connections but, quite often, it also includes housing, means of transportation, and financial support, which gives recent immigrants more leverage during their job search.

CHAPTER 9

Marginal Paisanas: Women’s Stories

This chapter concentrates on women’s stories of networking and job seeking. It shows how immigrant status and gender intersect shaping women’s economic experiences, networking strategies, and access to social capital through their connections with other paisanos and paisanas. The chapter includes a case study, cross-sectional comparisons, and analyses that situate my finding in theoretical perspective.

UNFULFILLED DREAMS: CASE STUDY OF A WOMAN WHO RELIED ON WEAK TIES Isabel, a single woman of 35, moved to the U.S. about one year prior our conversation. She had several cousins in Los Angeles, a brother and a sister in Atlanta, and former schoolmates and friends from Guerrero, her native town, in both Los Angeles and Atlanta. Unlike other women in my sample, she came without the explicit invitation of her relatives in the U.S. Nevertheless, she stayed for five months with her cousins in Los Angeles, where she found a job in a garment factory through one of her cousin’s friends. Given that she had to work for twelve hours a day five days a week and half-time on Saturdays for only $800.00 per month, she decided to move to Atlanta where her friends and siblings had given her information about better employment prospects. However, her experience in this city was less than optimal. At the time of our conversation, she had been unemployed for several weeks.

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market MLA: [When you moved to Atlanta] did you come to stay with your brother? Isabel: Yes, I came to live with my brother, but lately we have had problems and I left his house. MLA: For how long did you stay with him? Isabel: About …about two months, I think. About two months and a half. MLA: And what happened …? Why …what problems did you have with your brother? Isabel: Well, what happened is that …I gave a hand to a friend …a friend from my town and, then, he [his brother] was like …he was charging me rent and I did not have money … MLA: Your brother was charging you rent …? Isabel: Yes, he was charging me and I had lost my job. Then …he was charging me and, well …I did not have. [I said] “I don’t know, I’d rather leave …if you continue to charge me although you know that I still don’t have money.” And then, during that time I lost my job. MLA: How long did it take you get a job in Atlanta? Isabel: It took me like …I think it was like fifteen days …or three weeks, something like that. I don’t remember exactly, but it was between fifteen days and three weeks. MLA: How did you look for a job in Atlanta? Isabel: Well …through friends …and looking …like that. MLA: Were those friends whom you knew from your hometown? Isabel: No, like that …through people that I met in the streets, people with whom I used to talk …they would tell me about some job and I would apply. MLA: Didn’t you have …in addition to your brother, did you have any friends here in Atlanta?

Marginal Paisanas: Women’s Stories Isabel: Yes, I also had friends from my hometown. MLA: And …did you try to obtain information or referrals from any of these friends? Did your friends help you at the time you were looking for a job? Isabel: My friends …friends from my hometown did not help look for a job, I received help from people I did not even know. MLA: Why did your friends from your hometown not help? Did you ask them for information? Isabel: No, I used to asked them and they said that they did not know and, after that, then I got that job that I found through another person that …I had never met before …I worked there as a part- time from …from five to midnight, to eleven, and I was making about $200.00. MLA: What kind of job was that? Isabel: I was only putting salad on the plates, to prepare salad and that’s all. MLA: In a restaurant? Isabel: In …in a lobster place. That’s what I was doing. MLA: And you said that you obtained that job through a person that you met in the streets? Isabel: Yeah. Somebody whom I met in the street. MLA: Was this person from Mexico? Isabel: Yeah, he is a Mexican man who works right there, as a cook. And he’s still working there. MLA: For how long did you work there? Isabel: About two months. Only two months …or three. MLA: And what happened? Why were you not able to continue? Isabel: What happened is that …since I was in need of money to help a friend of mine to come here, then I needed quick

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market money, because he was already on his way. He was calling me on the phone and then …I …hoping to earn more, then …I was offered another job …one in which I was going to receive $300.00 per week and it was going to be a permanent job. Then it happened that they did not keep me for more than a week in this job. They had told me that it was a permanent job. Then I lost my other job. MLA: Who had given you a referral about this job? Isabel: There, it was advertised in the newspaper, plus I already knew and went to apply …It was with some Koreans. MLA: Did you find out about this job through the newspaper? Isabel: Yes. Then I went to apply. There were some Hispanic guys, also from Mexico …Some Hispanics, paisanos, and they translated for me and the Korean, and the Korean assured me that …that job was permanent. He said, “It’s permanent and I’m going to pay you $300.00 and I’m going to want you working in the kitchen.” But only a week later he asked me to leave. MLA: Was it a restaurant? Isabel: Yes, a bar-restaurant [restaurante-villar]. He said, “Stay, I’m going to pay you $300.00, I want you to be in the kitchen.” But at the end he only paid me one week and said, “You know what, I’m not going to have more work for you because …sales are down and, instead of profiting, I’m losing money.” So, he gave me the job for a week only and that’s how I became jobless. I lost a job in which I was better off than this one, just because the first one was temporary. So, in this place, I have not …[laughter] I have not found good luck. MLA: When was the last time that you worked in that Korean restaurant? Isabel: No, it has been a while. I even lost count. But I think it was before May [about two months before our conversation]. It was before May.


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MLA: That means that you’ve been unemployed for at least two months? Isabel: Or even more, yes. MLA: Have you been looking for jobs? Isabel: Yes, I’ve been searching but …right now, my bad luck is that I lost my papers and, from here …Everywhere …everywhere I go to apply I need a social security and all that. Then, since I don’t have it now, that’s the problem I have. MLA: Do you have a green card? Isabel: No, no. Only social security. That one that … MLA: Yes? Isabel: [laughter] Those that you know what. MLA: Oh …those that one gets like that, in the street … Isabel: Yes, of course, those are the ones that got lost. That’s how the situation has been for me. MLA: So, lack of papers has been inconvenient for you? Isabel: Right now, lately, yes. MLA: Have you been searching anyway? Isabel: I have tried to apply but …of late, well …I go but …they say that I need papers. MLA: What type of job are you applying for? Isabel: I’ve been searching like in restaurants …ironing … Isabel explained that she has tried to obtain information through friends and a former workmate and has applied for jobs advertised in the newspapers and through employment agencies, to no avail. She was, at the time, residing with the friend whom she helped relocate from Mexico to Atlanta, a man from her hometown who had been able to obtain and survive on two jobs during his short stay in Atlanta.

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When I asked her why, in her view it, was so difficult for her to find a job, she replied: Isabel: The main problem …when looking for a job? First of all, the language. Then, if you have no references, if nobody has referred you, “casi nadie aqui ni te pela” [nobody gives you any attention/nobody takes you seriously]. That is, nobody pays attention to you because, as they say, they do not even know the person. I have realized that …that's the way it is. That, above all, to be hired one needs to have a friend, or at least an acquaintance that …that could recommend you to the employer in that job. Otherwise, it's not possible. Because if I go by myself just like that and ask for an application, fill it out and all that, and write my personal information and all that, and leave it, they only say …”I will call you,” but it does not go beyond that. They say that they will give you a phone call, but they never do. As with many other female informants as well as some of the men in my sample, Isabel’s advice to any paisano considering the possibility of migrating was the following: Isabel: Well …[laughter] I would advise that person to think it over cause …life is too …For me, at least, I don’t know about other people. But I’d like …I don’t know …it’s too difficult. I would tell such a person to think it over because …it’s too difficult. For me it has been …it has been quite difficult for me and it is difficult. Ah …everything! To move far from your family, your father. So, I don’t know. I don’t know about another person, since we all are different.

BOUND IN THE HOUSEHOLD AND UNBOUND IN THE MARKET Isabel’s experience was different from that of other women in my sample in that most female informants were married and came with the financial support and, often, at the request of their husbands. However, her job experiences and employment history were very similar to those of her Mexican paisanas.


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Overall, the narratives of the interviewed women show that Mexican female immigrants tend to rely more heavily on their strong ties, due to their more limited opportunities to develop significant relationships outside of their households. As expected, the conventions associating women with the private sphere and men with the public sphere result in different job seeking methods and unequal chances for interaction and networking. The stories that the women shared with me reveal the ways in which such conventions are maintained, including control by and dependence on male relatives. My findings concerning employment patterns and outcomes also bring forth the centrality of gender-segregation within the immigrant labor market. Unlike men’s tendency to gravitate toward manual jobs in the construction industry, most of the interviewed women were working or looking for jobs in restaurants, stores, and factories, where the hiring process tends to follow formal lines. In this context, referrals help job seekers only in indirect ways. Immigrants working in a restaurant or a store may recommend a paisano, but they have less control over the hiring of the new worker. Conversely, informal hiring practices in industries like construction, where a more or less permanent worker is able to help several paisanos with a company carrying out activities in more than one site, makes quick employment more likely. It also facilitates the development of ties and information paths among co-workers, as well as the consolidation of a dynamic and relatively autonomous occupational network within the industry. Thus, the gender segregation of the immigrant labor market affects women’s likelihood to develop dynamic and resourceful occupational networks of their own. Various interviewed women shared with me stories that testified to the limited effectiveness of referrals in the places where they applied for jobs. MLA: You've been applying for jobs in different stores. How did you learn that these places could have vacancies? Josefa: Through my cousin. She works in [clothing] stores and has told me that …there, where she works, since it is a Mexican store, that they were looking for workers and there, normally, you don't need to speak English, only Spanish. MLA: In how many stores have you applied for jobs so far?

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market Josefa: I have applied …like in three. MLA: Including the store where your cousin works? Josefa: Yes. MLA: Has she recommended [referred] you? Josefa: Yes. MLA: Have you heard anything yet? Josefa: Ah …not yet, but …just yesterday she told me that …maybe I will.

In most cases, solidarity among female relatives appeared strong and consistent. Female relations often took it upon themselves to follow up on job information that could help their more recent immigrant relatives, introduced them to their circle of friends and acquaintances, accompanied them as they went to apply for jobs in different business, and negotiated job opportunities within their own workplaces when they knew of a vacancy. In spite of this, chances of securing stable jobs were reduced by the limited number of vacancies in the sectors of the market were women participated. Such was the case of Larisa: MLA: How did you get this job? Larisa: Through my sister-in-law. MLA: Was your sister-in-law working there? Larisa: Yes, she was working there. What happened is that one of her workmates went on leave of absence for eight days and she asked whether I could come [to replace the person on leave]. So I went …for the days in which she was on leave. MLA: And …after she [the woman on leave] came back, have you found any other job? Larisa: No. As with men, relationships of paisanaje among immigrant women who are not related by kinship entail solidarity and mutual responsibility. Neighbors and Mexican co-workers often alerted


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unemployed women of job opportunities in factories or commercial establishments, but the effectiveness of such networks was also limited by the irregular demand for labor in the types of businesses where women typically applied for jobs. MLA: What [other] steps have to taken in order to find a job? Larisa: Well, sometimes they [neighbors and friends] tell us [she and her-sister-in law] that in some place they need people and we go to apply. Then they say they will contact us and …well, we go to other employment agencies and apply and they say they will contact us. MLA: Who has told you about places that are looking for workers? Do you only go to the employment agencies or have you made any other contacts? Larisa: No …ah …like …people whom we know from the same …I mean, from the same place there where I am from [in Mexico]. They tell us and we go and apply, like …that a factory is going to open, it may be a biscuit or candle factory, or something like that, and we go and apply. MLA: Have you found many people who come from your township here in Atlanta? Have you met people from Veracruz? Larisa: Yes, I have. MLA: People whom you already knew from Mexico or whom you met here? Larisa: People whom I knew [from Mexico]. MLA: Have they helped you in any ways? Do you feel that …they have helped, that they are people whom you can trust, who can give you a hand if need be? Larisa: Well, in fact, well …yes, they …if they know that some place is hiring people they tell us and we …we go and …it depends on our own luck if we are hired or not.

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Larisa explained that she was currently employed on an intermittent basis in a book factory, where she worked part-time as a temporary worker, depending on the factory’s needs at the time. The unstable situation of immigrant women working at this factory made the network of female co-workers not very expedient in terms of job information and referral. MLA: Have you had the chance to make other friends, aside from …from your relatives here? Through your relatives, have you had the chance to meet people from Mexico or from other places? Larisa: Well, only …in the book factory …They’re from that same place, [female] co-workers [i.e., compañeras] at that factory. MLA: And those co-workers, have they helped you to search for other jobs? Larisa: Ah …they have told me …but in any case they are in the same situation …they continue to work [sporadically, that is] as the people at the factory ask them to, some days yes, some days no. Yes, if they [her co-workers] know of any job they tell us, if we know of any, we tell them. As it is evident from this excerpt, female occupational networks are generally less resourceful, less diverse, and more limited in scope than those of males. Women’s opportunities to expand such networks seem to be limited to interactions with people they meet at their workplace or through their relatives. Among the interviewed men, autonomy and mobility gave them access to paisanos they met in public places or through friends outside the household or work place. In contrast, mobility restrictions among women limited the context for networking and hampered their capacity to keep their occupational network ties and their contacts alive. Hence, women’s longer periods of unemployment also were due to the reduced size, density, and interactions within female immigrant networks. Various women testified to the fact that distance, lack of means of communication and transportation, and dependence on their more experienced relatives who had stayed longer and were more familiar with the host city made the circulation of infor-


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mation less efficient and reduced the effectiveness of their connections with other immigrant women. MLA: In the candle factory, were there other Mexican women working, besides your sister-in-law? Alicia: Yes, many, there were many … MLA: While you were working in this candle factory, did you make any acquaintances or friends who could now help you, for example, giving you a ride if need be, or providing you with job information? Alicia: No, because they live very far away. MLA: Have you at least stayed in touch with any of them? Alicia: With two of them only. MLA: Have they helped you in any way? Alicia: Well, they alert me when …when they know of a factory that needs people to work and …and I go but …no. Gender-segregation also limited women’s opportunities to benefit from their male relatives’ connections and occupational networks. Juana, who was unemployed at the time of our conversation, provides a typical example. Even though she and her husband lived in an apartment that they shared with several other Mexican immigrants, she had to resort to an employment agency to find a job. MLA: And those people whom you knew from your neighborhood …did they ever give you any referral as to where to find any jobs? Juana: No, because …they were working in construction. They are all young men and, thus, everything is just construction. They've not done anything else. As far as I know, since they arrived, that's all they've done. Esmeralda’s case was similar to that of Juana. She decided to join her sister and brother-in-law in Atlanta, where she expected to find a

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job that would allow her to send money to her father in Mexico. At the time of our interview, both she and her sister were unemployed, but her brother-in-law and her boyfriend had jobs in construction that allowed them to support the two sisters. Although Esmeralda’s male relatives seemed to have made attempts to connect her with their friends and colleagues and help her look for jobs, it took her three months to find her first employment, in a restaurant, where she lasted for less than a month. When I asked her how she eventually found this job, she replied: Esmeralda: Ah …alone, like that, just like that I found it. That is, I went to file an application and the man [restaurant manager] told me, Ah! Come tomorrow …he asked somebody to translate for me to come the next day, because the next day would be an interview with the boss. When all other informal or formal job seeking strategies had failed or did not yield the desired outcome, women, like men, asked for job information from unknown people in public places. However, these interactions tended to be even less structured than those of men who gathered on a street corner. In addition to its “ethnic” character, la esquina is also a gendersegregated market for jobs. First, it represents, in and of itself, the “public” space associated with the masculine sphere of activity. This condition seems to be directly relevant to the interviewed immigrant women, several of whom complained about their lack of autonomy and the restrictions imposed by their relatives on their mobility. Luisa, who stayed with her sister and brother-in-law upon her arrival in Atlanta, spoke extensively about this: Luisa: …well, I don't know, I mean, first of all, I think that because I'm single, I don't know. They reprimanded me too much …they did not want me to go out. They protected me too much, but …I am already 25 years old and I think that …they overprotected me from other people. They did not want me to meet other people …It was like …I started to have many problems with my brother-in-law because he used to tell my sister that he did not want me to go out with anybody …


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As opposed to men, immigrant women looking for jobs do not meet at a particular place. Neither do potential employers seek to hire unskilled female laborers in specific public locations. As noted earlier, la esquina is a source of manual, often physically demanding labor, which conventionally attracts and employs males. This is the second condition that makes it unfeasible for women to find jobs at la esquina. In consequence, the interviewed women had fewer choices than men in terms of job-seeking strategies that required negotiating for jobs in public places. This generally resulted in different employment experiences according to gender. Whereas male workers who came with no network support or lacked ties within the immigrant labor market could resort to subsistence jobs found at gas stations or on street corners, immigrant women without useful contacts in the local market tended to experience longer spells of unemployment. Consequently, women’s ventures and job-seeking experiences in public spaces take place in public transportation and bus stations, supermarket lines, or even on the open street, if the opportunity arises. Ana’s experience in this regard offers a typical example: MLA: Did you know your neighbors? Ana: Yes, I did know some of them. MLA: Did they ever help you to look for a job or give you any job information? Ana: No …no. Only people whom I saw in MARTA or like …like in places like that. MLA: Did you often ask for job information in the MARTA buses? Ana: Yes, I used to ask there. MLA: And what about the people from your neighborhood? Why did they not help? Ana: No, no …there was nobody who could give me any referral …The only way was to ride …to ride the bus, on MARTA. MLA: How far did you normally go?

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market Ana: Well, from here I had to go to East Point. Some lady …I met her on MARTA and …she told me about a job that was over there and …and I had to go and …and I applied, but they did not hire me …I never knew why …since I don't …I mean… MLA: Did you go to talk to this lady at the place where she was working? Ana: Yes, but after that I never saw her again and she never called me back.

As observed in this example, the people whom women usually approach as potential job informants are only coincidental encounter and, as such, the likelihood that a stable relationship will develop is not very high. Moreover, most people whom the female informants approached for job information were not involved in a job search themselves. This imbalance could undermine the basis for solidarity between the two women. Under these circumstances, the use of such “coincidental ties” was not an effective means of job-search. These findings are significant in at least three ways. First, they reveal some of the mechanisms through which ethnicity and immigration status interact with gender, creating different career paths, labor market performance, and job experiences for men and women of Mexican origin. Second, they shed light on the ways immigrant networks are constructed and strengthened along gender lines. Third, they illustrate the interaction of macro-structural arrangements (such as occupational segregation) with micro-social processes (such as gendered social relationships and contexts of interaction) in shaping the job opportunities of immigrant men and women.

GENDER MATTERS The previous section suggests that gender is a significant dimension mediating the strength and effectiveness of strong ties among Mexican labor migrants. Women’s networks are generally less resourceful than men’s in terms of social capital, and male occupational networks are not helpful in meeting women’s employment needs.


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Concerning the use of weak ties for job information (e.g., making job inquiries of strangers in public places) gender also seems to make a difference. For both the women and the men of my sample, the yields of such job-seeking methods were rather low, unpredictable, and less than optimal in terms of job stability, pay, and working conditions. However, in contrast to women, men were often able to start building a network through interactions with other migrant workers at the esquinas. Such male networks composed of unemployed workers who met at a gas station or a shopping mall, were generally not of much help in the short run. Yet, in the long run, they could result in an employment opportunity or, at least, a job contact, as was the case with at least five of the interviewed males who resorted to the street corner during their employment search. Men meeting at such locations exchanged contacts and shared information about seasonal employment in other states, as well as working conditions in different industries. Above all, their recurring encounters at these places gave them the chance to join resources, such as money for transportation or for renting an apartment, which helped compensate for their lack of relatives and friends in town. For those women resorting to casual encounters with strangers as a means of job information, the search process seldom led to network building or expansion. In this sense, I call these interactions “coincidental encounters” rather than weak ties. In general, looking for jobs in this way tended to be an isolating process for the informants. Not only did they engage in their search independently from other similarly situated women, but also the interactions they established with strangers on the street were segmented and lacked obligation or reciprocity expectations. Thus, unlike men’s encounters at la esquina, women’s sporadic interactions in public locations did not lead to the consolidation of occupational networks. In general, women’s use of coincidental ties as sources of information and referral was not so much a result of their lack of strong ties, since most women in my sample came to Atlanta with the support of kin. Rather, it was a consequence of the gendered character of occupational networks and the unequal resources available to men and women through their respective networks. These findings support and add new elements to Hagan’s (1998) study of gendered networks among Mayan immigrants in Houston. The

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focus of her research was changes in men’s and women’s network structures and dynamics over time. As with studies on network migration (e.g., Massey 1991) and ethnic enclaves (e.g., Portes 1995; Waldinger 1986), Hagan observed that labor migrants who arrive in communities that have well-established immigrant networks find it easier to enter the local labor market. However, her study showed that men and women’s networks tend to evolve along different paths and yield unequal opportunities. Amongst the factors that accounted for this pattern were the size and rate of growth of industries in which men and women work, the different dynamics of men’s and women’s social relationships at work, and the degree to which men’s and women’s occupational networks are linked to co-ethnic and non-co-ethnic webs of relationships (Hagan 1998: 60). My findings are consistent with the first two conditions cited by Hagan. As discussed earlier in this article, I found that the usefulness and efficacy of immigrant networks in terms of obtaining employment are higher when they connect recent immigrants with growing industries, particularly those that rely heavily on migrant labor and employ informal hiring methods, as in the construction industry. Thus, like Hagan’s study, my research shows that occupational segregation negatively affects the development of female occupational networks. My findings also show that different relationships at work influence the evolution of occupational networks along gender lines. Women’s tendency to look for jobs in businesses that are less dynamic and more formal in terms of hiring procedures reduced their chances of expanding their social circles and hindered the solidification and stability of the relationships they initiated at work. One significant difference between Hagan’s study and mine is that all but one woman in her sample were employed as private domestic workers. Of the eighteen women I interviewed, only three—Lisa, Ana, and Lorena—were working or had held jobs as maids. The chief occupation of the women in Hagan’s sample shaped her findings in the sense that her female informants were not only isolated from one another, but their most significant relationships in the workplace were those they established with their employers. Hence, female occupational networks in Hagan’s study revolved mostly around non-coethnics, since information about job opportunities in domestic service originated among employers and used employers’ networks as sig-


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nificant diffusion paths. In the case of Hagan’s male informants, most men in her sample were working in a supermarket chain that had been colonized by male Mayan immigrants. These men were able to circulate information about job opportunities as janitorial, maintenance, and custodial personnel for different branches of the company among their co-ethnics. The fact that the women in my sample were working or applying for jobs in different industries is significant because it reveals that the limitations of female immigrant networks cut across different occupations. Unlike the referral process in domestic service, information about employment opportunities in restaurants, factories, and stores, where many of my female informants were looking for jobs, circulated through workers’ rather than employers’ networks. However, in such places, workers’ networks were less central in the recruitment process as compared to the industries in which male immigrants participated. As indicated by the men’s narratives, employers in industries like construction rely directly on their workers and the connections they have within their communities for the hiring of new personnel. Conversely, in the industries where women usually worked, the hiring process followed more formal procedures and often involved a number of filtering mechanisms, such as application forms, interviews, and fulfillment of such eligibility requirements as a social security card or work permit. As noted earlier, these industries were also part of a less dynamic market than those in which men were employed, such as construction. In addition, my findings suggest that network development among immigrant women is hindered not only by the characteristics of the jobs they perform, but also by gendered patterns of interaction and mobility outside the workplace. In Hagan’s study, one significant factor that led to the weakening and eventual breakdown of female networks was their confinement as domestic workers in their employers’ households. Hagan observes: Their relationships are constrained by residential isolation among Anglos, who are economically, socially, and geographically remote. The women are uprooted from the social relations of exchange and reciprocity that characterize working-class urban families (Hernandez-Leon and Zúñiga

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market 2000); thus, their ties with other co-ethnics weaken. Social contact with local shopkeepers and other providers of goods and services is also constrained by the physical remoteness of the employer’s neighborhood (Hagan 1998: 61).

My findings show that women’s opportunities for sustained interaction with their paisanas are also constrained by their limited autonomy and mobility within their respective neighborhoods and social circles. As reflected in the experiences of various women, patriarchal relationships within their own households compelled them to depend on their male relatives for transportation, guidance, daily errands outside the household, and even the job search. A couple of examples support and illustrate this point: MLA: Whom have you asked for help? [in finding a job] Alicia: Well, I asked my brother and my sister in-law who, well, since they have a car and I don't, well, I ask them to help me but …they say they don't have time, or that …or that now they can't, “I'd better take you later,” and that's how the days go by and they do not take me … MLA: Do you know how to move around town? Alicia: No. MLA: Don't you know how to use public transportation? Alicia: No. MLA: So, when you go out, do you go with your husband or…? Alicia: Yes. MLA: Do you have any contacts with such organizations as “La Misión Católica” [The Catholic Mission] or any other organizations that could help you? Alicia: No. MLA: What do you do when you need to go shopping? Do you go alone? Alicia: No, my brother takes me.


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Like Alicia, Josefa found herself dependent on her cousin and brotherin-law for mobility, in spite of the fact that she felt confident enough to go by herself: Josefa: I feel that I can move around on my own. I can go to places I've already visited with them, 'cause I've already learned. What happens is that they do not allow me to go out alone because …they say I have not been here long enough. MLA: Do you feel that you could go out to look for a job on your own? For example, if you're told that there's a factory or a store …over there, in downtown, would you be able to go alone? Josefa: Yes …but no. My cousin and my brother-in-law would not allow me to go alone. But I feel that I can do it. As these examples suggest, gendered norms within the household also contribute to women’s isolation, lack of access to information, and, eventually, network contraction. Moreover, networking patterns in public places, as observed before, are structured and constrained by men’s command of public places and women’s association with the private sphere of activity and interaction. For example, women’s exclusion from la esquina can be seen as result of occupational segregation in the market as well as gender role segregation in the household. Accordingly, I conclude that patriarchal norms and labor market segmentation along gender lines intersect, creating different network dynamics as well as unequal career opportunities for immigrant men and women. As I mentioned earlier, the central argument in Hagan’s study is that immigrant networks are helpful for both men and women upon their arrival in a new community, but the evolution of their respective networks varies over time to the detriment of women’s employment or occupational mobility chances. However, my findings suggest that gender is an important dimension mediating the efficacy of strong ties for Mexican immigrants throughout the entire process of migration and job allocation. Significantly, the narratives of men and women in my sample speak of different reasons for migration, which could indirectly relate to their respective success as migrant laborers in the U.S. Several

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interviewed women, especially those who were married, came to the U.S. encouraged or compelled by their male relatives. Omayra: I mean, look: first of all, I will tell you one thing. At no moment in my life did I think I would come here. Above all, I'm here because my husband sent for me and all that. And because someday, in the future, you know …now …now …as people say, I'm with him, and if I did not come he would say that “I sent for you and you did not come, you did not want to push on with me,” and all that. So, most of all, [I came] to support him. The primary role of women like Omayra as companions and helpers rather than heads of household and main providers is likely to create different frameworks for men and women in terms of labor market incorporation. First, the decision to migrate ultimately responds to the man’s needs and expectations. Second, men’s employment prospects in the U.S. are likely to take priority over those of their wives during the organization and cost-benefit assessment of the migration process itself. This argument is corroborated by the stories that men shared during our conversations. For example, unlike most women, several male informants made the decision to undertake their journey across the border once they knew that there was a specific job awaiting them in Atlanta. Once in the U.S., men’s and women’s different role expectations resulted in an unequal commitment of effort and resources the during job search. Oliveira’s (1991) study of female migration in Mexico may shed some light on the way different gender roles within the family group relate to unequal employment outcomes for men and women. Using the domestic group as the unit of analysis, Oliveira asserts that “…migration is one of the concrete manifestations of the organization [or reorganization] of family labour” (Oliveira 1991: 112). Her study highlights how different duties and obligations assigned to men and women determine their participation in “activities related to production, reproduction and distribution,” as well as migration (Oliveira 1991: 111). The option of migration, participation in wage-labor, and the mode of labor market incorporation of female migrants are, therefore, linked to their place and role in the kinship structure. Specifically, Oliveira states:


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The fact of being a woman is an immediate disadvantage: women’s duties and obligations are different from men’s; those of mothers distinct from those of daughters. Young daughters are more frequently faced with the opportunity or the option to migrate, while their mothers take care of productive activities for family consumption, do the necessary housework, take care of small children, and perform the agricultural tasks assigned to them within the peasant group (Oliveira 1991: 113). Even though Oliveira’s research concentrates on internal rather than transnational migration, her analysis is relevant here as it examines the effects of family organization on the labor market incorporation of migrant women. From the examples of Omayra and Alicia it is possible to infer that their secondary role as wage earners within their respective households affected their participation in the market, including their access to job information and their involvement in occupational networks. Drawing on these stories, I argue that women’s lower employment yields are explained not only by the limited evolution of their respective networks, but also by their functional separation from already established webs of relationships within the immigrant community. As with male immigrants, the presence of relatives and friends entails material support and provides women with initial information about the host job market, protection from the uncertainties of an unfamiliar milieu, and a frame of reference to facilitate their entrance into a new society through the gates of the co-ethnic community. However, the efficacy of such strong ties in terms of job allocation is reduced by women’s subordinate status within the household and their marginal position within the immigrant network.


CHAPTER 10

Conclusion

The narratives of my informants lend support to Massey’s (1991) argument about the centrality of strong ties in the migration and adaptation of Mexican immigrants in the U.S. They also show the significance of gender in understanding immigrants’ networking opportunities and economic experiences in the receiving society. Furthermore, my finding shed light on complex character of network formation and development amongst international immigrants, whereby the strength of network ties depends not only on frequency of interaction, but also on the subjective definitions immigrants attach to their various relationships. I will summarize my findings and explain their theoretical relevance in the following sections.

THE DEBATE: STRONG OR WEAK TIES? When assessing the benefits of migration as an economic strategy, most immigrants in my sample relied on information provided by conationals with which they had strong ties in the host country. This pattern corroborates the view that job openings do not attract potential workers unless they know about such openings, hence the relevance of social networks. In the case of international labor immigrants, neighbors, relatives, and friends who have already settled or resided in the U.S. are typically their only source of information about job prospects in the receiving country. This was the case amongst my informants. Amongst male immigrants, in particular, the level of difficulty they encountered upon arrival in the U.S. corresponded with the level of resources available through their friends and relatives in the host community. Significantly, most immigrants who were successful in promptly obtaining stable jobs relied on their strong ties, whereas those 171

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who lacked a supporting network underwent a more difficult job seeking process. Those who tried to obtain job information through weak ties were unsuccessful in finding jobs, or else experienced extended spells of unemployment. Moreover, weak ties with nonimmigrant workers were marginal to non-existent amongst recent immigrants. Under such circumstances, Mexican immigrants creatively use their relatives, friends, and co-ethnic neighbors as sources job information, referrals, and logistic support. However, the resources available through strong ties differed significantly for male and female immigrants, as I will further elaborate in the next section. The patterns described above have various implications for theories of social network and job seeking. Sociological theories of labor market incorporation argue that the distribution of job information and employment opportunities in the market is imperfect and uneven. As important as individuals’ human capital is their social capital, that is, their access to information diffusion paths and contacts that may be knowledgeable about specific jobs. Thus, the level of embeddedness of individual job seekers within resourceful networks becomes an important factor in employment outcomes. Given that most informants were undocumented and non-English speakers, they had little access to people who could be used as social capital outside their co-ethnic network. The isolation of immigrant workers from a wider web of social relationships that could include weak ties seems, thus, to be a function of their immigrant status rather than a consequence of their reliance on strong ties. Moreover, embeddedness in strongly tied immigrant networks provided them with a framework for migration, adaptation, and labor market incorporation, in spite of their marginality in the host society. Massey (1991: 469) describes well the specific advantages immigrants draw from embeddedness within immigrant networks and the way in which such networks operate: As these networks develop and mature, they dramatically reduce the costs of migration, inducing others to enter the migrant workforce. The entry of additional immigrants, in turn, leads to more extensive networks, which encourages still more migration. Over time, therefore, international migration tends to become a self-perpetuating social phenomenon. Migrant networks are thus rooted in the migration process and develop as an independent infrastructure that connects communities of

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origin and destination. The emergence of “daughter communities” in the United States indicates the transnational modus operandi of these networks, as well as their important role in the settlement of Mexican immigrants in the host society. Strong ties play a crucial role in this regard, as they provide the organizational infrastructure for migration, from departure to settlement. In this vein, Massey observes: Migrant networks grow out of universal relations that are adapted to the special circumstances of international migration. The relations are not created by the migratory process, but molded to it, and over time they are strengthened by the common bond of the migrant experience itself … Kinship is the most important base of migrant social organization, and family connections provide the most secure network connections (p. 470). The mechanisms that underlie the effectiveness of strong ties as work links include solidarity expectations amongst paisanos, availability of “place-based” job information, and what Portes (1995) calls “cumulative causation.” As observed by Massey, existing ties of kinship, friendship, and paisanaje amongst immigrants carry levels of mutual responsibility not expected of acquaintances. Overlapping relationships among paisanos thus expand social capital and the pool of available resources that ease the entrance of new immigrants into the host community. Unlike Granovetter’s view of strong ties as redundant sources of information that reduce employment chances, immigrants’ close-knit relationships are an inclusive mechanism that circulates information between sending and receiving communities and supports the settlement of new labor migrants in the host labor market. Job information also acquires new meanings within the context of international migration. According to Granovetter (1972), the strength of weak ties lies in their capacity to bridge distant parts of a network and produce novel information that may lead to high-paying jobs. In the case of migrant workers, Sassen (1995: 113) underlines the importance of “place-based” job information:

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Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market The potential emigrant is not likely to be responding to national information about relative returns in the country of destination …but to specific place-based information about specific jobs, most likely jobs within specific local labor markets.

Amongst Mexican labor migrants, knowledge about specific job opportunities in the host city is, thus, an important determinant of labor supply. Although strong ties are usually regarded as inferior sources of upward occupational mobility, they seem to represent efficacious means for the acquisition of place-based job information amongst recent labor migrants. Finally, the effectiveness of strong ties as work links is also explained by the cumulative effect of immigrant concentration in specific industries. In this regard, Portes (1995: 18) describes how immigrants who dominate occupational niches such as construction or retail trade become useful links between new arrivals and the labor market. Cumulative causation operates in this case through the entry and successful performance of “pioneers” in certain branches of employment and their subsequent referral of kin and co-ethnics for other job openings. Later arrivals are compelled to work diligently not only to fulfill personal obligations to those who found them jobs but also because they are being monitored by the entire ethnic community. These employees open the way for others until the ambiance of the work place acquires the cultural tones of the group. Once this happens, outsiders find it increasingly difficult to overcome entry barriers, while those in co-ethnic networks are granted privileged access. In summary, paisanaje, cumulative causation, and the fluidity of place-based job information amongst paisanos underlie the efficacy of strong ties for migrant workers. These mechanisms are particularly relevant during periods of economic boom. In this regard, the Atlanta economy exhibited one of the highest growth rates in the U.S. throughout the 1990s, including the time-period during which my data was collected (1999). Studies show that this remarkable economic boom was accompanied by employment growth, especially in the service sector, but also in construction and manufacturing, which supply the highest proportion of jobs for lower-skilled workers

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(Hartshorn and Ihlanfeldt 2000: 27). Accordingly, this process came with significant population movements from other parts of the country into the Atlanta region, as well as in-migration of Hispanic laborers from Mexico, Central America, and the Southwest. Job availability and the growth of the immigrant population in Atlanta naturally favored the development of ethnically based occupational networks and increased the resources available to new arrivals through such networks. Under these circumstances, the cumulative effect generated by immigrants’ concentration in certain industries and the exchange of information and contacts along paisanaje lines became suitable mechanisms of employment incorporation for newcomer immigrants. On the other hand, the isolating effect that could result from reliance on strong ties did not apply. Green et al’s (2000) discussion of the dynamics of social isolation among African Americans is relevant in this regard: Social isolation, it is alleged, is primarily the result of the declining number of jobs for unskilled African Americans in the inner city, coupled with residential segregation by race and income …Residential concentration of the impoverished, many of whom are not employed, decreases the potential of associating with individuals who have information about jobs, and creates a so-called underclass …(p. 244) Drawing on this view, it can be argued that when labor demand is high and unemployment rates are low, relationships outside the immediate network are less significant in terms of employment prospects. Although my field research was conducted during a period of economic boom, the analysis of information diffusion within migrant networks in Atlanta helps us identify the conditions under which weak ties are not functional or may not be superior sources of job information. In this regard, my research suggests that strong ties are particularly helpful for immigrant workers under two main conditions: first, when the job-seeker is alienated from mainstream networks; second, when the job-seeker is embedded in a dense network of fellow workers employed in growing industries colonized by labor migrants. Granovetter’s study population was fundamentally different from my informants in these two conditions. His argument about the superiority of weak ties was based on research with U.S.-born, collegeeducated job-changers in professional occupations. Furthermore, he qualified his thesis by noting hat weak ties are of value only if they connect job seekers to high-status individuals (Granovetter 1981: 208).

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My findings do not dispute this theory. Specifically, my research seems to corroborate Lin, et al.’s (1981) premise that the heterophily principle (i.e., the structural tendency of weak ties to link people with dissimilar attributes) is ineffective when the positions reached are horizontal or lower in the structure relative to the person’s initial status. Furthermore, my findings suggest that homophily (the tendency to seek out people similar to oneself) is not always detrimental for individual job seekers. In the case of Mexican immigrants, solidarity and reciprocity among people who originate in the same town in Mexico increase labor migrants’ social capital while they look for jobs and settle in the receiving society. Consequently, the overall implication of my findings is that strong ties are not necessarily deficient paths for the circulation of job information. Moreover, under certain circumstances, such as international migration and employment growth in unskilled occupations, strong ties may be more effective than weak ties in extending bridges between job seekers and remote occupational networks. The massive number of Mexican labor migrants who enter the U.S. labor market every year, in spite of institutional barriers, seems to exemplify the case in point. Even though my research focused on job seeking amongst recent immigrants rather than long term mobility patterns, it is worthwhile asking whether reliance on strong ties, in the long run, could have the encapsulating effect discussed by Granovetter. Moreover, the question remains, who ultimately benefits from the operation of close-knit immigrant networks. Krissman’s (2000) research about immigrant labor recruitment in U.S. agribusiness offers some interesting insights in this regard. His work examines the “demand side” of international migrant networks. He proposes that sustained immigration from Mexico is driven by the needs of the U.S. economy. Accordingly, he takes issue with Massey’s and Portes’s positive view of the role of migrant networks in the smooth settlement of Mexican labor migrants. His central argument is that immigrant networks mainly benefit employers, who can transfer the costs of recruitment, training, and supervision to long-term immigrants imbedded within transnational networks. In the process, these networks ensure employers access to a large pool of low-cost labor whenever needed (Krissman 2000, 279). As a result, cooperative relationships amongst paisanos become “negative social capital,” in the sense that the costs and risks involved

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in labor reproduction are shifted from the employer to the immigrant community. From this standpoint, the weakness of strong ties is that they provide the organizational infrastructure for the development of immigrant-dominated labor markets characterized by “unauthorized,” and, therefore, unregulated employment, high turnover rates, and dual labor standards that perpetuate the exploitation of Mexican immigrants in labor intensive industries. Whether we approach the role of immigrant networks through supply or demand explanations, the potential weakness of strong ties amongst labor migrants is not a matter of any lack of capacity to diffuse job information across distant subsets of a network. In the context of international migration, strong ties can be viewed as the “bridges” that, “…have put a U.S. job within reach of nearly all people in western Mexico …” (Massey 1991: 469). When a myriad of legal restrictions prevent Mexican immigrants from entering the U.S. labor market, strong ties connect rather than isolate distant labor markets.

WHO DRAWS STRENGTH FROM STRONG TIES? THE SIGNIFICANCE OF GENDER While Massey describes the process of network formation among male Mexican immigrants, his ethnographies leave a gap in our understanding of women’s support networks, forms of paisanaje, and overall migration experiences. For example, he found that relationships between fathers and sons are the strongest within male networks, followed by those between brothers, cousins, and uncles and nephews, each of which carries significant levels of mutual responsibility. However, one would wonder whether relationships between female relatives, in general, involve equivalent expectations. Do female immigrants share the experience of migration with their mothers or are they compelled to rely on other members of the kin? Are women’s strong networks more likely to include significant ties with male relatives? Massey observed that activities such as weekly matches between soccer teams organized by Mexican migrants helped to strengthen friendship ties between men and contributed to the development of new relationships along paisanaje lines. The question remained, how do women construct relationships of paisanaje? By which means do women enlarge their networks? How do they keep their friendships

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alive? What activities bring them into regular interaction? Furthermore, what role do their networks play during migration, settlement, and job search? Do they find their strong ties to be helpful contacts in the host labor market? My findings provided significant insights into these issues. The narratives of the women revealed that both female and male immigrants are bound together by ties of solidarity and expectations of reciprocity. However, women’s relationships are more fragmented, less resourceful, and less enduring than those of men. Limited geographical mobility, physical distance, and infrequent communication among female immigrants weakens their ties with other women and limits the flow of information through such informal conduits. Moreover, unlike male networks, female networks typically incorporate men as significant links with other paisanos and primary sources of job information and referral. Women’s strong ties with men, however, tended to be ineffective work links. Occupational segregation and gender segregation of work-related networks seemed to be the underlying mechanisms shaping women’s labor market outcomes in the host country. The participation of male and female immigrants in segregated labor markets put women at a disadvantage in various ways. First, it prevented them from taking advantage of the informal hiring strategies that characterize several immigrant-dominated industries, which employ unskilled labor migrants in manual jobs typically performed by men. Second, it reduced the effectiveness of strong ties as work links, since the strength of strong ties partly derives from the “domino effect “ that the concentration of immigrants in a few industries creates. The stories told by the informants also suggested that men’s lack of commitment to guide their female relatives during job search derived from an implicit view of women’s role as wage earner as subsidiary within the household. In consequence, women were not only more dependent on kinship, but their strong ties were not as effective as men’s in terms of employment outcomes. This pattern illustrates how occupational segregation in the labor market and role typing in the household intersect in various planes of immigrant women’s lives. Gender segregation in public and private spheres of activity constrains women’s networks, resources, access to information channels, and job opportunities. In this regard, the hardships confronted by the women highlight the double jeopardy of ethnic

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and gender inequality, which shapes the experiences of female migrant workers in the U.S. labor market. In general, my findings are consistent with previous studies (e.g. Hagan, Hondagneu-Sotelo) of female migrant workers, which show that immigrant networks develop along gender lines. In addition, I found that male and female networks varied in their resourcefulness, dynamism, and overall strength. Concerning the weak-strong tie debate, this finding is relevant because it shows a connection between tie strength, gender, and social capital. Specifically, my research indicates that gender mediates immigrants’ capacity to capitalize on paisanaje and mobilize resources through their strong networks. Significantly, women’s weak and “coincidental” ties with strangers were not conducive to stable jobs in Atlanta. Thus, although strong ties were not very effective for women during job search, I found no evidence that weak ties were superior sources of information and referral. In conclusion, this study suggests that strong ties are not equally useful for women and men and that the strength of strong ties is contingent upon gender. This finding confirms the centrality of gender in network formation, development, and dynamics. The diverse dimensions of network migration only mirror the complexities of economic inequality in the context of global processes. My research sheds light on the disadvantage that immigrant status represents in this global context, especially when the borders crossed divide countries with unequal positions in the world system. Notwithstanding, the narratives of the immigrants bring forth the significance of social capital in negotiating their survival in an unfamiliar place and, often, unwelcoming climate.

SOCIAL NETWORKS REVISITED Amidst debates about the relative strengths of weak and strong ties, my research with Mexican labor migrants in Atlanta also brings into question the empirical grounding and functional value of typologies of network ties. The fluid and multifaceted relationships observed among Mexican immigrants in Atlanta impel the researcher to revisit the nature and underlying dimensions of tie-strength. To return to the question, “What is the strength of strong ties” from a new angle, the underlying issues is what makes a relationship strong or weak? What is

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the essence of a strong tie? What forms of fellowship are involved in strong ties that distinguish them from weak ties? What are the most relevant indicators of tie-strength? Although regular interaction is deemed the primary source of familiarity and intimacy, trust between Mexican immigrants has different overtones. Common origin, expatriation, and the process of transnational migration itself appear to create bonds of reciprocal trust among Mexican labor migrants who may have known each other only for a short time. In this regard, the narratives of the immigrants suggest that, within immigrant networks, strong ties are based on shared understandings that derive from a common background and co-ethnic solidarity. Thus, among international Mexican immigrants, tie-strength seems to be a function of identity with other immigrants. The density of migrant networks and the intense embeddedness of immigrant workers within such networks is likely to set the ground for trustworthiness, even within short-term relationships. The implications deriving from these observations are that frequency of communication is not, in and of itself, indicative of tie-strength. Moreover, the strength of a bond seems to be essentially a function of context and the subjective meaning attached to the relationship. Paisanaje, in this regard, represents a strong tie, as it underlies the strong connection and the sense of identification among immigrants, who may or may not be personally acquainted with one another. Yet, relative to kinships and friendship ties, paisanaje is “the most diffuse type of relations in the [migrant] network …” (Massey 1991: 470). The shades and varying levels of intensity of strong ties among Mexican immigrants underscore the dynamics of immigrant networks, which mold and are molded by transnational migration. Yet the experience of these migrants may well suggest and exemplify the fluidity of interpersonal relationships and social networks in a broader sense. Cooley’s (1909/1929) influential study of social groups offers a useful framework for analyzing the nature of tie-strength within social networks. Like relationships in primary and secondary groups, strong and weak ties appear to be at opposite ends of a scale. In this regard, qualitative research on social networks complements studies based on statistical analysis, which may overlook or fail to capture the gradations of tie-strength and the continuous character of network ties. The significance of my findings is grounded on this perspective.

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Appendix I

INTERVIEW GUIDE (SPANISH VERSION) Le agradezco mucho el tiempo que me concede para ésta conversación. Estoy interesada en conocer las experiencias de los mexicanos cuando llegan a Atlanta. Le solicité ésta reunión porque me interesa conocer sobre su vida y actividades en ésta ciudad. Antes de empezar… Go over anonymity, need for tape recorder, etc. Ahora le solicitaré su permiso en forma verbal para entrevistarlo(a) y grabar ésta entrevista. Puedo grabar la entrevista? Stop tape recorder Tiene alguna pregunta? Begin recording I. Personal Networks in Atlanta En primer lugar, me gustaría conocer sus impresiones sobre Atlanta y sus experiencias en esta ciudad. • Qué es lo qué más le gusta de vivir en Atlanta? • Qué es lo que menos le gusta de vivir en Atlanta? • Actualmente, tiene familia en Atlanta? Qué parientes tiene en la ciudad? Alguna vez ha vivido con alguno de ellos? • Cuénteme sobre su vida social. Tiene muchos amigos? • Tiene amistades o conocidos fuera de su vecindario? • Entre sus amistades, hay personas que no son de México? De qué país provienen? • Quisiera que me platicara sobre las 5 personas que considera más allegadas a Ud. (Por ejemplo, si son de su pueblo, de otro pueblo en México, o de otra nacionalidad. Tambien 189

190

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Appendix I quisiera saber si viven cerca de Ud.; cómo y dónde las conoció; cuánto tiempo tiene de conocerlas; y con qué frecuencia se encuentra con ellas) En qué forma éstas personas se han ganado su confianza? Le han brindado alguna ayuda durante el tiempo que tiene de vivir en Atlanta? Trabaja actualmente? Hábleme sobre sus actividades laborales. Qué trabajo realiza? Dónde trabaja? Es éste su primer trabajo en Atlanta? Cómo consiguió éste trabajo? Tiene Ud. deseos de conseguir otro trabajo? Si desea cambiar de empleo, qué tipo de trabajo prefiere? Qué probabilidades cree que tiene de conseguir un empleo como éste? Tiene intenciones de mudarse a otra ciudad o de regresar a México algún día? Por qué? Por qué no?

II. Personal Background and Migration History Ahora, me gustaría conocer sobre su vida en México. • Me interesaría saber por ejemplo dónde nació, dónde creció, dónde fué a la escuela y hasta qué grado llegó. • Qué trabajo hacía antes de venir a los Estados Unidos? • Por qué decidió salir de México? • Tenía parientes, amistades o conocidos de su pueblo que ya habían visitado los Estados Unidos? • Mientras vivía en México, conocía a alguien que estuviera trabajando en los Estados Unidos? Quién o quiénes? En qué ciudades vivían? Qué relación tenía con éstas personas? Cómo era su relación con éstas personas? Desde cuándo las conocía? • Tenía oportunidad de comunicarse con ellas? Por cuáles medios? Con qué frecuencia? • Sabe qué trabajo hacían? • Qué le habían dicho sobre sus experiencias en los Estados Unidos?

Appendix I

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Ahora quisiera que me hablara sobre la época en que llegó a los Estados Unidos. • Cuándo vino a los Estados Unidos por primera vez? Vino de visita o con la intención de quedarse? • Cuándo decidió vernir a quedarse en los Estados Unidos? A qué ciudad llegó? Vino sólo(a) o acompañado(a) de su familia, de algún amigo, o paisano? • Tenía algún pariente, amigo, o conocido en ésta ciudad? Se comunicaba con alguna de ésta(s) persona(s) mientras vivía en México? • Qué le llevó a tomar la decisión de venir a los Estados Unidos? • Tenía idea de cómo se vive en los Estados Unidos? • Sabía qué oportunidades de trabajo exitían para los mexicanos en los Estados Unidos? Sabía qué dificultades confrontan los hispanos? • En qué otras ciudades ha vivido desde que llegó a éste país? Por cuánto tiempo? • Trabajó Ud. en alguna de éstas ciudades? Qué trabajos realizó? • Cómo consiguió dicho(s) trabajo(s)? Cuánto tiempo le tomó conseguirlo(s)? Ahora quisiera que me hablara sobre la época en que llegó a Atlanta. • Cuándo llegó Ud. a Atlanta por primera vez? En esa ocasión, vino de visita o con la intención de quedarse? Cuándo decidió quedarse a vivir en Atlanta? Qué le hizo tomar esta decisión? Tenía interés de trabajar en Atlanta? Si su respuesta es no, por qué no? • Vino sólo(a) o le acompañó alguien de su familia, algún amigo o conocido? • Qué sabía sobre Atlanta cuando decidió venir a quedarse? • Tenía parientes, amigos, o conocidos que vivían en ésta ciudad? Qué le habían dicho sobre Atlanta? • Conocía a alguien que trabajara en ésta ciudad? Sabía si era fácil or difícil encontrar trabajo en Atlanta?

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III. Social Networks upon Arrival in Atlanta Cuénteme cómo le fué durante las primeras semanas en Atlanta. • Tenía a alguien con quién puediera contar? Si tenía parientes, amigos, o conocidos, cuál(es) era(n) la(s) persona(s) de su mayor confianza? En qué forma podía contar con ésta(s) persona(s)? • Tenía algún lugar donde alojarse? Con quién se quedó durante las primeras semanas? Por cuánto tiempo? En qué barrio? • En su vecindario, vivían otros mexicanos? Había norteamericanos viviendo en su vecindario? Qué idioma escuchaba con más frecuencia en éste vecindario, inglés o español? • Quién le ayudó a mantenerse mientras conseguía trabajo? Por ejemplo, quién le ayudó con su alimentación? Tuvo necesidad de solicitar dinero prestado? Quién le prestó dinero? Cuando necesitaba hacer llamadas a México o a otras ciudades de los Estados Unidos, tenía quien le prestara el teléfono? Quién cree Ud. le hubiera asisitido en caso de enfermedad? • Le resultó fácil o difícil empezar a familiarizarse con la ciudad? Quién le ayudó mientras se adaptaba? • Cómo hacía para movilizarse? Contó con alguien que le prestara un carro o le diera un “aventón,”? Quién le enseñó a manejarse con el transporte público (MARTA)? • Y con el inglés, tuvo problemas? Si no hablaba inglés, quién le ayudó a comunicarse con los norteamericanos cuando salía a la calle a hacer compras o diligencias? Platíqueme sobre las personas que conoció durante sus primeras semanas en Atlanta. • Le resultó fácil relacionarse y conocer personas? Le resultó fácil hacer nuevas amistades? A quiénes conoció durante sus primeras semanas en Atlanta? Personas de su pueblo? Personas de otros pueblos de México? Otros hispanos? Norteamericanos? Vivían éstas personas en su vecindario? Cuénteme dónde y cómo conoció a éstas personas?

Appendix I

193

IV. Job Search Process Ahora me gustaría que me hablara sobre sus experiencias mientras buscaba trabajo. • Qué planes tenía cuando llegó a ésta ciudad? • Qué tipo de trabajo le interesaba? • Quería encontrar un trabajo que estuviera cerca de su vecindario o no le importaba la distancia? • Buscaba un trabajo en el que no tuviera que hablar inglés o no le importaba el idioma? • Cuánto tiempo pensaba que le podía tomar conseguir trabajo? • Conocía a alguna persona que trabajara en Atlanta cuando Ud. llegó a la ciudad por primera vez? Dónde conoció a éstas personas? • Tenía idea sobre el tipo de trabajo que conseguiría en Atlanta? Cómo llegó a ésta conclusión? • A la hora de empezar a buscar trabajo, con qué personas conversó? Quién le dió información sobre empleos en Atlanta? Quién le dijo dónde aplicar? Tuvo alguién que le explicara cómo aplicar o con quién debía hablar para conseguir un empleo? Alguien le dió alguna información con respecto a los salarios en Atlanta? • Además de pedir información, que hizo para encontrar trabajo? Buscó anuncios de trabajo en los periódicos? En cuáles periódicos? Se acercó a alguna oficina de empleo? Se acercó a alguna organización o asociación de la comunidad? (Por ejemplo de la iglesia, del vecindario, de los mejicanos en Atlanta, de los hispanos de Atlanta) Buscó directamente en alguna empresa? Pidió ayuda a sus familiares? Pidió ayuda a amigos? Solicitó la ayuda de sus vecinos? Qué tipo de ayuda solicitó de cada una de éstas personas?

194

Appendix I Habló con personas que no fueran parientes, amigos, o vecinos de su comunidad? Cómo conoció a éstas personas? Eran mexicanos? Tuvo la oportunidad de conversar sobre su intención de conseguir trabajo con algún norteamericano o de pedir directamente su ayuda? Cómo conoció ésta persona? Desde cuándo la conocía? Recibió algún tipo de ayuda de ésta persona? Contaba con referencias mientras buscaba trabajo? Qué personas usó como referencia? En general, quién cree Ud. le brindó más ayuda y estuvo más dispuesto(a) a brindarle asistencia? En qué forma le ayudó(ayudaron) ésta(s) persona(s)? Qué relación tenía con ésta(s) persona(s)? Desde cuándo la(s) conocía? Mientras buscaba trabajo, cómo se movilizó por la ciudad? Tuvo quien le acompañara? Tenía acceso a un carro? Si tiene niños pequeños, con quién los dejaba mientras salía a buscar trabajo? En los lugares en los que buscó trabajo, qué permisos o papeles le solicitaban? (Por ejemplo pasaporte, visa, seguro social, permiso de trabajo, etc.). Tuvo Ud. problemas en éste sentido? Cuánto tiempo le tomó encontrar trabajo? Qué tipo de trabajo encontró? Se sintió satisfecho(a) con el trabajo que encontró? Con el salario? Con el lugar en que quedaba ubicado? Con sus compañeros de trabajo? Cómo consiguió éste trabajo? A través de quién lo consiguió? Cómo le ayudó ésta persona a conseguir trabajo? Qué relación tenía con ésta persona? La conocía bien o sólo superficialmente? Hace cuánto tiempo la conocía? Era ésta persona mejicana o de otra nacionalidad? Vivía ésta persona en su vecindario? Trabajaba ésta persona para la misma empresa o patrón con quién Ud. consiguió empleo?

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En general, diría Ud. que le resultó fácil o difícil conseguir trabajo en Atlanta? Qué dificultades confrontó? Ha sido éste su único trabajo en Atlanta o ha tenido otros? Cuáles? Por qué decidió cambiar de trabajo? En general, qué personas le han ayudado a conseguir empleo en Atlanta? Cuáles cree Ud. que son los problemas más comunes que los mexicanos encuentran mientras buscan trabajo en ésta ciudad? Si tuviera que aconsejar a algún paisano que llegara a buscar trabajo en Atlanta por primera vez, qué le aconsejaría?

V. Socio-Demographic Information Ahora le voy a hacer unas cuantas preguntas generales para finalizar nuestra entrevista. • Qué edad tiene Ud. en años cumplidos? • Es Ud. casado(a)? • Si es casado(a), vive con su cónyugue? • Tiene hijos? De qué edades? • Trabaja actualmente? Tiene permiso de trabajo? Muchas gracias por su tiempo y ayuda.

ENGLISH VERSION I appreciate very much the time you are giving me for this conversation. I want to learn more about the experiences of Mexicans when they arrive to Atlanta. I asked you for this meeting because I wanted to learn about your life and activities in this city. Before we start… Go over anonymity, need for tape recorder, etc. Now I will ask for your verbal permission to interview you and record this interview. May I record the interview? Stop tape recorder Do you have any questions? Begin recording

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I. Personal Networks in Atlanta First of all, I would like to know your initial impressions about Atlanta and your experiences in this city. • What do you like most about living in Atlanta? • What do you like least about living in Atlanta? • Do you have relatives in Atlanta? Which relatives? Have you ever lived with any of them? • Tell me about your social life. Do you have many friends? • Do you have friends or acquaintances outside your neighborhood? • Do you have friends who are not from Mexico? Which country are they from? • I would like us to talk about any five persons whom you consider closest to you. (For example, I would like you to tell me if they are from your town, from another town in Mexico, or of a different nationality. I would also like to know if they live close to you; how and when you met them; how long you have known them; and how often you get together with them). • In what particular ways have these people gained your trust and confidence? Have they helped you in any way during your stay in Atlanta? • Are you currently working? Tell me about your work. What work do you do? Where do you work? Is this your first job in Atlanta? • How did you get this job? • Would you like to get a different job? If you wish to obtain another type of employment, what type of job would you prefer? What are the chances of getting such a job? • Are you planning to move to another city or to return to Mexico some day? Why? Why not?

Appendix I II. Personal Background and Migration History Now, I would like to learn about your life in Mexico. • I would like to know about your personal background. For example, where you were born, where you grew up, where you went to school, and the last grade you attended in school. • What kind of work did you do before coming to the U.S.? • Why did you decide to leave Mexico? • -Had any relatives, friends, or acquaintances from your hometown already been to the U.S.? • While you were living in Mexico, did you know anybody who was working in the U.S.? Who? In which U.S. cities were they staying? In what way were you related to those people? What was your relationship with these persons like? For how long had you known them? • Were you able to stay in touch with these people? By what means? How often? • Do you know what kind of job they were doing at that time? • What did they tell you about their experiences in the U.S.? Now, I would like us to talk about the time you came to the U.S. • When did you first come to the U.S.? Did you come to visit or were you planning to stay? • When did you decide to stay in the U.S.? In which city? Did you come alone or with some relatives, friends, or paisanos (co-nationals)? • Did you have any relatives, friends, or acquaintances in that city? Did you communicate with any of these people while you were in Mexico? • What made you decide to come to the U.S.? • Did you have any idea about live was like in the U.S.? • Did you know what job opportunities were available for Mexicans in the U.S.? Did you know what kind of problems Hispanics confront in the U.S.? • In what other cities have you lived since you arrived in this country? For how long?

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Did you work in any of these cities? What types of job did you hold? • How did you get these jobs? How long did it take you to get them? Now I would like you to tell me about the time you arrived in Atlanta. • When did you come to Atlanta for the first time? Did you come just to visit or were you planning to stay? When did you decide to stay in Atlanta? Why did you decide to do so? Were you interested in working in Atlanta? If no, why not? • Did you come alone or with some relatives, friends, or acquaintances? • What did you know about Atlanta? • Did you have any relatives, friends, or acquaintances in Atlanta? What did they tell you about this city? • Did you know anybody working in this city? Did you know whether it was easy or hard to get a job in Atlanta? •

III. Social Networks upon Arrival in Atlanta Tell me how things were for you during your first weeks in Atlanta. • Did you have anybody you could count on? If you had relatives, friends, or acquaintances, which ones could you trust the most? In what ways you could rely on them? • Did you have a place to stay? Who did you stay with during the first weeks? For how long? In what neighborhood? • Were there other Mexicans living in your neighborhood? Were there North Americans living in your neighborhood? What language did you hear most often in that neighborhood, English or Spanish? • Who helped you support yourself while you were looking for a job? For example, who provided your meals? Did you ever have to borrow money? Who lent you the money? When you had to make a phone call to Mexico or other U.S. cities, did anybody allow you to use his or her telephone? Who do you think would have assisted in case of illness? • Was it easy or hard to start becoming familiar with the city? Who helped you while you were trying to get adjusted here?

Appendix I •

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How did you move around the city? Could you borrow a car or get rides from someone? Who helped you learn to use public transportation (MARTA)? Did you have any problems communicating in English? If you did not speak English, who helped you to communicate when you went out, for example, to shop?

Tell me about the people you met during your first weeks in Atlanta. • Was it easy meeting and interacting with people? Was it easy making new friends? • Who did you meet during your first weeks in Atlanta? People from your hometown? People from other towns in Mexico? Other Hispanics? North Americans? Did these people live in your neighborhood? Tell me where and how you met each of these persons. VI. Job Search Process Now I would like you to tell me about your experiences while you were looking for a job in Atlanta. • What plans did you have when you arrived in this city? • What type of job were you interested in? • Did you want to find a job close to your neighborhood, or you did not care about distance? • Were you looking for a job in which you would not have to speak English or did language not matter? • How long did you think it would take you to get a job? • Did you personally know any people working in Atlanta when you arrived? Where did you meet these people? • Did you know what type of job you would be likely to find in Atlanta? How did you learn about these jobs? • When you began looking for a job, whom did you talk to? Who gave you information about jobs in Atlanta? Who told you about places you could apply for a job? Did anybody explain to you how to apply or advise on whom you could contact in order to get a job? Did anybody tell you about wages in Atlanta?

200 •

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Appendix I Besides requesting information, what did you do to find a job? Did you look for job advertisements in the newspapers? Which newspapers? Did you approach any employment agency? Did you approach any community organization or association? (For example, a church organization, a neighborhood association, an association of Mexicans in Atlanta, a Hispanic organization, etc.) Did you search directly at any work sites? Did you request the help of relatives? Did you request the help of friends? Did you ask neighbors for help? Did you talk to anyone who was not a relative, friend, or neighbor in your community? How did you meet this person? Was this person form Mexico? Did you have the chance to talk about jobs with any North American, or to directly solicit his or her help? How did you meet this person? For how long had you known this person? Did you receive any help from this person? Did you have references while you were looking for a job? Whom did you use as references? In general, who do you think helped you the most and was most willing to assist ? In what way did this (these) person(s) help you? What was your relationship with them? For how long had you known them? While you were looking for a job, how did you move around the city? Did you have anybody to accompany you? Did you have access to a car? If you have small children, with whom did you leave them while you went out to look for a job? In the places where you looked for employment, what permits or papers did they ask for? (For example, passport, visa, social security card, work permit). Did you have any problems in this regard? How long did it take you to find a job?

Appendix I • •

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What type of job did you find? Were you satisfied with the job you found? With the salary? With the place in which it was located? With your coworkers? How did you find this job? Through whom did you find it? How did this person help you to find your job? What relationship did you have with this person? Did you know him or her well or just superficially? For how long had you known this person? Was this person from Mexico or from another country? Did this person live in your neighborhood? Was this person working for the same business or employer with whom you found your job? In general, would you say that it was easy or difficult to find a job in Atlanta? What difficulties did you encounter? Has this been your only job in Atlanta, or have you had other jobs? Which jobs? Why did you decide to change jobs? In general, which people have helped you to find employment in Atlanta? What do you think are the most common problems that Mexicans encounter when they look for jobs in Atlanta? If you had to advise some compatriot arriving in Atlanta to look for a job for the first time, what advice would you give this person?

V. Socio-Demographic Information Now I am going to ask a few more general questions to finish our interview. • How old are you? • Are you married? • If married, do you live with your spouse? • Do you have children? What are their ages? • Do you currently work? What is your occupation? • Do you have a work permit? Thank you very much for your time and help.


Appendix II

Table 1. Job-Seeking Methods by Gender Job Seeking Method Relatives Friends “Paisanos” Acquaintances “Coincidental” “Esquina” Employment agency Job site Newspaper ads Radio ads Flyers

Gender Women Men 3 5 10 12 1 8 5 3 4 0 0 8 8 5 2 6 5 6 1 1 0 1

203


Index

coyote, 54, 68, 95–99, 139. See also pollero cumulative causation, 173–74 Dekalb, 1, 8, 103 domestic workers, 12, 13, 15, 35, 37, 54, 93, 119–22, 164 Doraville, 41, 42, 44, 59, 84, 92, 93, 102, 113, 141, 144 embedded(ness), 10, 17, 20, 172, 180 employment agency, 50, 103, 104–6, 142, 159 mobility, 15, 25, 27, 33, 34, 46, 121, 167, 174 outcome, 34, 46, 51, 110, 155, 168, 172, 178 search, 9, 12, 18, 34, 48, 61, 80, 101, 107, 108, 123, 136, 148, 162, 163, 166, 168, 178–79 yields, 125, 163, 169 enclave, ethnic, 21 esquina, see la esquina ethnographic research, 10, 12, 22, 26, 34, 80, 100, 177 Fernández-Kelly, María, 12, 13

agriculture industry, 13, 72, 110, 112, 114, 119, 120, 125, 137 border crossing, 11, 57, 61, 95–99, 111, 125, 132, 133, 139, 168 border patrol, 99 Boyd, Monica, 31–32 Briody, Elizabeth, 27 capital, human, 106, 144, 172 capital, social, 11, 15, 17, 21, 32, 33, 68, 106, 135, 149, 162, 172, 176, 179 carpet industry, 8, 13, 137 Central America(ns), 28, 43, 44, 82, 98, 175 Chamblee, 41, 42, 44, 59, 93, 102, 113 community, daughter, 173 community, host, 24, 173 community, immigrant, 44, 71, 78, 133, 136 community, receiving, 115, 130, 132, 139, 173 construction industry, 8, 43, 47, 54, 69, 70, 72, 108, 110, 112, 119, 120, 121, 122, 125, 133, 134, 137, 146, 148, 155, 160, 164, 165, 174 205

206 gender(ed), 162 migration, 12, 13, 60 network, 33, 34, 36, 37, 39, 63, 80 networks, 12, 14 segregation, 93, 155, 159, 167, 178 Granovetter, Mark, 10, 19, 24, 63, 65, 77, 89, 135, 173, 175, 176 Hagan, Jaqueline, 14, 34–38, 80, 93, 163–68 Hernández-León, Ruben, 13 Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette, 13, 15, 37, 119 immigrant status, 102, 149, 172, 179 immigrant community. See community, immigrant immigrant(s) documented, 28, 58 illegal, 27, 44, 58, 99, 104, 125 low-skill, 43, 115 temporary, 57, 125 undocumented, 8, 11, 22, 28, 43, 47, 58, 67, 95, 96, 104, 106, 107, 125, 129, 136, 147, 172 immigration authority, 58, 97, 108, 139 policy, 12 status, 48, 58, 101, 162 industry agriculture. See agriculture industry carpet. See carpet industry

Index construction. See construction industry meatpacking. See meatpacking industry poultry. See poultry industry restaurant. See restaurant industry job information, 10, 15, 172– 78, 27, 30, 31, 32, 65, 75, 77, 89, 94, 108, 116, 117, 122, 127, 129, 134, 136, 148, 156, 163, 169, 172–78 place-based, 173, 174 job market, 7, 20, 115, 133, 143. See also labor market job queue, 146, 147 job referral, 9, 16, 39, 46, 65, 75, 77, 91, 94, 105, 108, 110, 111, 124, 127, 129, 136, 151, 155, 158, 163, 165, 172, 174, 178 job search. See employment search kinship. See ties, kinship and network(s), kinship la esquina, 46, 113–16, 124, 143–47, 160, 167 labor market, 7–16, 18, 25, 34, 36, 108, 174 incorporation, 112, 129, 133, 168, 172 segmentation, 39 segregation, 37, 93, 119, 155, 160, 167 labor market outcome. See employment outcome

Index labor recruitment, 12, 16, 165, 176 Massey, Douglas, 10, 12, 26, 31, 68, 80, 86, 94, 116, 171– 73, 177 meatpacking industry, 137, 138 Menjívar, Cecilia, 15, 34 migrant worker. See immigrant(s) migration. See gender(ed), migration network(s) close-knit, 11, 22, 39, 66, 80, 111, 135, 176 co-ethnic, 9, 12, 25, 26, 28, 33–38, 66, 80, 143, 164, 172, 174 composition, 12, 14, 34, 36, 63 connections, 15, 18, 28, 59, 63, 77, 101, 111, 116 contraction, 14, 36, 37, 93, 167 dense, 15, 31, 66, 122, 125, 136, 137, 175 development, 8, 13, 31, 137, 164, 165, 171, 175, 179 development, 33–39 employer, 38, 120, 122, 164 expansion, 26, 35, 36, 80, 93, 111, 134, 158, 163 formation, 32, 33–39, 61, 64, 93, 171, 177, 179 kinship, 22–25 kinship, 10, 32, 90 occupational, 10, 14, 77, 111, 114, 119, 122, 137,

207 143, 147, 155, 158, 162, 169, 175 personal, 31, 46, 48 size, 17, 158 strategies, 35, 49, 51, 75, 101, 124, 125, 149 strongly tied, 9, 11, 22, 28, 39, 135, 172 weakly tied, 19, 30 Oliveira, Orlandina de, 12, 168 paisanaje, 25, 67, 80–94, 100, 113, 122, 125, 139, 143, 156, 173, 175, 177–80 paisano(a), 90, 101, 110, 113, 116, 124, 139, 143, 149. See also paisanaje Pessar, Patricia, 9, 12, 39 pollero(a), 68, 95–99. See also coyote Portes, Alejandro, 9, 11, 17, 20, 21, 22, 173, 176 poultry industry, 8, 137 reciprocity, 10, 17, 20, 26, 30, 33, 35, 63, 66, 100, 129, 163, 165, 176, 178 referral chain, 10, 18 referral, job. See job referral relationships interpersonal, 10, 17, 99, 180 superficial, 10, 19, 73, 77, 91 restaurant industry, 30, 43, 59, 105, 155, 165 Rodríguez, Nestor, 28–31 Sassen, Saskia, 9, 14, 21, 34, 173

208 seasonal workers, 112, 137 socialization, 31, 148 solidarity, 20–22, 29, 33, 34, 64, 72, 77, 81, 86, 88, 89, 90, 93, 94, 98, 100, 115, 148, 156, 162, 173, 176, 178, 180 Stack, Carol, 22, 67 strong ties. See ties, strong subcontracting, 39, 72, 121, 137 subcontractor, 72, 116, 137 tie strength, 19, 20, 24, 26, 59, 63–68, 66, 68, 69, 74, 113, 115, 122, 125, 133, 135, 171, 173, 177, 179 ties. See also network(s) ties, kinship, 9, 22. See also networks, kinship

Index ties, strong, 9, 10, 11, 14, 18– 33, 37, 39, 59, 61, 63, 75, 80, 89, 94, 100, 102, 108, 110, 113, 117, 124, 125–38, 127, 129, 143, 148, 155, 162, 167, 171–80 ties, weak, 9, 10, 11, 27, 32, 63, 68, 70, 73, 76, 77, 80, 94, 100, 102, 108, 120, 124, 129, 133, 135, 143, 149, 163, 171, 173, 175, 179, 180 weak ties. See ties, weak work culture, 31, 38 Zúñiga, Victor, 13

Mexican Immigrants in the Labor Market: The Strength of Strong Ties (The New Americans: Recent Immigration and American Society) (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

Making Ends Meet: Income-Generating Strategies Among Mexican Immigrants (New Americans (LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC).) (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

Recruiting Hispanic Labor: Immigrants in Non-Traditional Areas (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

Russian Immigrants in the United States: Adapting to American Culture (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

Bridges and Barriers: Earnings and Occupational Attainment Among Immigrants (New Americans) (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

Immigration, Acculturation, And Health: The Mexican Diaspora (The New Americans: Recent Immigration and American Society)

Latino Families Broken by Immigration: The Adolescent's Perceptions (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

Changing Gender Roles: Brazilian Immigrant Families in the U.S. (New Americans (LFB Scholarly Publishing LLC.)) (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

The Occupational Attainment of Caribbean Immigrants in the United States, Canada, and England (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

The Politics of Citizenship of Mexican Migrants (The New Americans: Recent Immigration and American Society)

Beyond the Immigrant Enclave: Network Change and Assimilation (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

Culture, Class, and Work Among Arab-American Women (New Americans (Lfb Scholarly Publishing Llc).)

Korean Americans (The New Immigrants)

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