2009/08/24 by Sebnem Koser Akcapar, Şebnem Köşer Akçapar · 71 citations
Social Sciences · #Country of origin #Demographic economics #Development economics #Diaspora, migration, transnational identity #Economic geography #Economics #Ethnic group #Ethnography #Globalization #Immigration #Middle East #Migration and Labor Dynamics #Migration, Refugees, and Integration #Political science #Social capital #Social science #Sociology #Transnationalism
paper · doi:10.1111/j.1468-2435.2009.00557.x
published in International Migration 48(2), 161-196 (Wiley)
openalex publication_date 2009/08/24 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/23
Abstract Existing research on international migration has focused on the importance of social networks and social capital in the countries of origin and destination. However, much less is known about the importance of social networks and associated social capital in transit countries. Drawing on ethnographic research on Iranian transit migrants in Turkey, this paper argues that migrant networks and social capital are equally important in transit countries. These networks, however, do not always generate positive social capital for Iranian migrants as there are scarce resources and there is no “enforceable trust”. Iranian migrant networks reorganized in a transit country like Turkey are not static structures and they are largely affected by macro‐variables such as current immigration and asylum policies of Turkey and Europe, transnationalism and globalization, and other place‐specific features like Turkey’s location bridging East and West, the existence of human smuggling networks, and its proximity to Iran. But Iranian migrant networks in Turkey are also affected by micro‐variables, such as gender, religion, and ethnicity of individual migrants.