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Social Remittances: Migration Driven Local-Level Forms of Cultural Diffusion

Many studies highlight the macro-level dissemination of global culture and institutions. This seminal article focuses on social remittances - a local-level, migration-driven form of cultural diffusion. Social remittances are the ideas, behaviors, identities, and social capital that flow from receiving- to sending-country communities. The role that these resources play in promoting immigrant entrepreneurship, community and family formation, and political integration is widely acknowledged. This article specifies how these same ideas and practices are remolded in receiving countries, the mechanisms by which they are sent back to sending communities, and the role they play in transforming sending-country social and political life.

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Date of Publication
Type of Resource
Target Audience
Academia
Author
Peggy Levitt
Source / Publisher
International Migration Review
Language
English
Geographic Scope
Global
Workstream Output
No
Regional Review Process
No
GCM Objectives
Cross Cutting Theme
People-centred
Sustainable development
Status
Published

*References to Kosovo shall be understood to be in the context of United Nations Security Council resolution 1244 (1999).