Abstract
Hong Kong Movers and Stayers is an engaging and superbly researched sociological ethnography that treats migration as a process and not a singular act of departure and settlement. Such an approach understands migration as not simply a physical act of crossing national borders but a much more involving process that entails ongoing assessment of migration and constant negotiation with family members, social networks, and governmental institutions before and after the physical act of border-crossing. Based on fifteen years of research and writing, Janet Salaff, Siu-lun Wong, and Arent Greve present narratives of nine families from different class backgrounds to illustrate how they, given their specific social location, differentially access and respond to shifting circumstances that alter both the possibilities and conditions of migration. To examine key factors that frame the migration process, the authors use a neo-institutional framework and focus their attention on three categories of institutional structures, structures that guide peoples’ decisions and shape their ability to migrate. These structures are large-scale structures, which include state policies and market forces; social relations and norms, such as professional and personal networks and the cultural norms and expectations embedded in these networks; and cognitive-cultural frames, which serve as interpretive lenses through which people come to understand their circumstances, make their decisions, and act in certain ways. The study thus offers a complex account of how these different spheres of influence converge to form the bases through which people consider and actualize migration.
Divided into three parts, with each part discussing three families that share the same socio-economic background, the book suggests that social class is a key determinant in shaping migration decisions and practices. It becomes clear that the elite, cosmopolitan class of Hong Kong Chinese tend to have more success in realizing their migration plans. While their class privilege gives them access to immigration, in terms of meeting economic and professional criteria, it does not protect them from facing obstacles in their new place of settlement. Their lack of both local knowledge and access to local networks often leads to investment disasters and employment dead-ends. Subsequently, many of these families either return to Hong Kong or create transpacific family structures in which the patriarch continues economic activities in Hong Kong while other family members remain in Canada. For professional middle-class families, their work life and local kin networks root them in Hong Kong, while their inability to meet the economic criteria for immigration closes the possibility of moving abroad. These narratives illustrate how families shift their perspective on migration as they adjust to life in post-retrocession Hong Kong where career opportunities open up, the social-political situation remains unchanged, and family bonds stay central. For working-class families in Hong Kong, it seems virtually impossible to migrate, and some never even entertain the possibility. Poverty is the main deterrent. Even for those who have family abroad and may be able to immigrate under the family reunification category, the lack of economic resources prevents them from realizing their plan. For one family, the notion of moving abroad is a non-issue when all their local kin and employment networks are based in Hong Kong and when they continually find themselves struggling to maintain their working-class status. Together, the nine family narratives illustrate how social class position situates people in relation to the overlapping structures that frame migration.
Overall, the theoretical and methodological approach of this study offers a significant contribution to the study of migration. The longitudinal study shows how migration unfolds over fifteen years, highlighting the complex structures that come into play as people make decisions and adjust to changing realities. It illustrates the significance of historical contingency and the constantly shifting terrain on which state regulations, market shifts, social and professional networks, and family ties and concerns rub against one another. The book is an excellent example of what can result from rigorous research, careful planning, and thoughtful analysis. The research is what makes this book so intellectually satisfying, and the narrative style of the ethnographic chapters makes the stories thoroughly compelling and makes visible and tangible the density of life. Indeed, the book represents collaborative work at its best.