TY - JOUR
T1 - Migrants' competing commitments
T2 - Sexual partners in urban Africa and remittances to the rural origin
AU - Luke, Nancy
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2010/3
Y1 - 2010/3
N2 - Migrants form nonfamilial ties in urban destinations, which could compete with origin families for a share of remittances. A framework of competing commitment predicts that new relationships affect remittances depending on the extent to which they substitute for the benefits provided by origin families. Analyses of data from urban migrants in Kenya show that serious nonmarital sexual partners substitute for psychosocial support from the rural family and that material transfers migrants give to these partners significantly reduce remittances. The findings have implications for the ways scholars conceive of competition, the nature of exchange, and substitution of support across intimate relationships.
AB - Migrants form nonfamilial ties in urban destinations, which could compete with origin families for a share of remittances. A framework of competing commitment predicts that new relationships affect remittances depending on the extent to which they substitute for the benefits provided by origin families. Analyses of data from urban migrants in Kenya show that serious nonmarital sexual partners substitute for psychosocial support from the rural family and that material transfers migrants give to these partners significantly reduce remittances. The findings have implications for the ways scholars conceive of competition, the nature of exchange, and substitution of support across intimate relationships.
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U2 - 10.1086/651374
DO - 10.1086/651374
M3 - Article
C2 - 20503648
AN - SCOPUS:77951435310
VL - 115
SP - 1435
EP - 1479
JO - American Journal of Sociology
JF - American Journal of Sociology
SN - 0002-9602
IS - 5
ER -