Household Survival Strategies Research Articles

Resilient Remittances? Examining Immigrant Remittances from the United States to Latin America During Covid-19

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic prompted projections of economic contraction and a resulting decline in immigrant remittances, which are fundamental to many migrant household survival strategies. However, in the first year of the pandemic, remittances from the United States to Mexico and other Latin American countries remained surprisingly stable. Using novel survey and interview data, we investigate this apparent divergence, and the dynamic familial networks that sustained remittances during the first year of Covid-19. We identify patterns masked by the overall macro trend of resilient remittance flows, including heterogeneity across remitters’ responses to the pandemic and household-level strain of remitting during this period. Specifically, we find evidence of an intensified expanded remittance pool, wherein remittance responsibility spread across household and extended family members—especially US citizens, authorized immigrants, and those who were more financially stable—in response to job loss and income instability within remitting households. During a period of extreme hardship, the continued need for remittances among nonmigrant family members contributed to the purposive intensification of these expanded pools. Our study of immigrant remittances during Covid-19 demonstrates the utility of examining complexity, change, and oftentimes strain at the micro-household level that undergirds apparent stability at a macro-level of analysis.

Strategy for Household Survival of Unlicensed Gold Mining Workers (PETI) in Nagari Lubuk Gadang Timur, South Solok Regency

This research is motivated by PETI workers who experience economic problems in household life, where the income earned by PETI WORKERS is not sufficient for household needs. Where the average income of PETI workers is Rp. 1,000,000. per month, however, PETI workers continue to work even though work as PETI workers is at high risk, namely raids from the government. The problem in this research is that gold mining without a permit (PETI) is illegal and can also damage the environment. So that the apparatus conducts raids once a month, which are carried out a maximum of two weeks in a month. Therefore this study aims to describe the household survival strategies of unlicensed gold mining workers (PETI). The theory used in this research is Max Weber's social theory. The method used in this study is a qualitative approach with a descriptive type to describe the problem under study. Retrieval of informants using purposive sampling with a total of 15 informants. There are two types of data in this study, namely primary data and secondary data. The research data was collected using observation techniques, interviews and document studies. Data analysis was carried out by collecting data, reducing data, presenting data and drawing conclusions using the unit of analysis in this individual study. Based on the results of the research that has been conducted, it was found (1) that PETI labor is the main job in fulfilling the household economy of Jorong Sungai Aro. (2) There are 3 livelihood strategies for PETI workers. The first strategy is to optimize family potential, the form of family potential optimization strategy used by the Jorong Sungai Aro household is that the wife helps her husband work vegetables and children who sometimes during school holidays help the family by becoming working PETI. Second, the strategy of minimizing expenses with a priority scale is carried out by getting used to living frugally. The third is utilizing social networks by borrowing money from neighbors, paying at stalls or shops and so on. The strategy for utilizing social networks that is usually carried out by poor families is to borrow money from neighbors or family and borrow money from food stalls to buy basic foodstuffs.

Permasalahan Anak Jalanan di Surabaya (Studi Eksploratif Eksploitasi Anak Jalanan di Surabaya)

Abstract. This paper explored the problems of street children in Surabaya, especially the exploitation of street children. This paper has a subject to find out the causes of the emergence of street children and also the forms and causes of exploitation of street children in Surabaya. This paper was an exploratory paper with data collected through literature study. The problem in this research is examined using the household survival strategy theory by Harbirson. The results of this study indicate that there were several factors that can cause the emergence of street children, namely in the form of economic factors or poverty, family factors, and also community factors. Street children are children who are prone to exploitation. The form of exploitation of street children can be in the form of being forced to work for more than 8 hours and consuming a lot of time for street children so that they cannot do what children their age should do. The other forms of exploitation of street children are taking wages and acts of intimidation and violence carried out by parents or thugs who have power in the area where street children are doing their activites.

Sociální a ekonomické strategie života městských domácností v Kyrgyzstánu

The dissolution of the USSR and the transition from a planned to a market economy gave rise to significant changes across all areas of people’s daily lives in Kyrgyzstan. These processes have influenced its social institutions through an effect on household survival strategies. The purpose of this article is to identify differences and similarities in the means of survival chosen by Kyrgyz and Russian households. Employment, income, and expenses are important components of budget planning that affect the saving behaviour of household members. A qualitative method – a semi-structured interview – along with statistical data, was used to identify differences and similarities in the behaviour of Kyrgyz and Russian households, especially regarding their attitude to loans and social networks. The findings highlight the attitudes of different generations of households in contrasting cultural settings to these components.

Rural-urban migration and the well-being of the migrant-sending households: An impact evaluation study

Background: Rural-urban migration is largely depicted as a household survival strategy, yet rigorous quantitative studies to uncover its impact on the sending households is rare.Aim: The study aims to assess the causal impacts of rural-urban migration on sending households’ economic and subjective well-being (SWB).Setting: The context of the analysis is South African rural-urban migration using the National Income Dynamics Study panel data.Methods: A range of methods are used to increase the consistency and precision of estimates, namely: Ordinary Least Squares, Fixed Effects, Difference in Differences, Difference in Differences with Propensity Score Matching and Difference in Differences with instrumental variables, controlling for pertinent issues such as fixed effects, self-selection and endogeneity.Results: Our econometric analysis reveals a positive correlation between migration and the SWB of the sending household. This effect can be attributed to a range of factors discussed in the study, one of which is the positive association observed between the migration of a household member and the origin household’s economic well-being. This upswing in economic well-being is captured by increasing the sending household’s monthly income per capita and increased remittance inflows.Conclusion: From our analysis, we can infer that the improvement in economic well-being offsets the psychological effects of separation, thus leading to the enhanced SWB of the migrant-sending households in South Africa.

International migration - a household survival strategy in coastal communities in Ha Tinh province

Many studies have shown that the decision to migrate as a survival strategy in areas facing political conflicts, climate change, and severe scarcity of natural resources is an urgent need. In 2016, the Formosa phenomenon occurred in the communes of Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh province, which caused thousands of workers to lose their jobs and have to find other livelihoods by migrating. In recent years, the cross-border labor migration in Vietnam, especially the migration of undocumented workers, is attracting researchers’ attention. This article describes the role of migration for people in the North Central Coast of Vietnam. Based on the results of the field survey through in-depth interviews in Thach Long, Thach Tri, and Thach Van communes in Thach Ha district, Ha Tinh province, the author points out the push and pull factors of migration, forms of labor migration, and results of livelihood strategies of local households in the current social context. In addition to improving and changing the quality of household resources, labor migration also creates diversified and effective household livelihood restructuring. However, no strategy is considered sustainable and migrant workers are always faced with the possibility of failure and with challenges from their illegal status.

Strategy of farmer households to survive in the gembong watershed, karanganyar regency, central java, indonesia

Farmers as inferior professions need a strategy to fulfill their needs. Survival strategies are carried out by adjusting the characteristics of farmers’ welfare from physical, social and economic aspects. This study aims to determine the characteristics and survival strategies of farmer households in the Gembong Watershed, Karanganyar Regency, Indonesia. The method used in this study is scoring and qualitative descriptive analysis. Scoring method is used to assess farmers welfare characteristics from ‘physical, social, economic aspects and access to public facilities’ of farmer households. And, qualitative descriptive is used to reveal the strategies used by farmer households to fulfill their needs. The results of this study show 25% of farmers have a good level of well-being, 75% are moderate and 0% are less. And, the strategy to fulfill the needs for survival used by farmers includes active, passive and network strategies. Variations in the types of strategies used are influenced by the level of welfare of farmer households.

Making ends meet: clerical workers, consumption, and the collar line in the USA in the 1920s

ABSTRACT In the years following the First World War, railroad clerical workers in the United States struggled to participate in the mass consumption marketplace and enjoy the material aspects of middle-class life. Drawing upon letters they wrote to their union in April 1920, this article examines railroad clerks’ family consumption choices, strategies and aspirations. Given the gap between their incomes and their needs and desires, these ‘white-collar’ families made the kinds of marketplace choices and engaged in the kinds of household survival strategies usually associated with the ‘blue-collar’ working class. At the same time, clerks and their families aspired to middle-class lifestyles and strove to achieve ‘white-collar’ patterns of consumption, investing in forms of social and cultural capital that might distinguish them from the manual working class. Viewed through the lens of consumption, railroad clerks’ letters highlight the ambiguity and permeability of the ‘collar line’ at the dawn of the age of mass consumption.

FROM NATIVE TO OUTLANDER: EXPLORING INFORMAL COMMUNITY IN CHENGZHONGCUN OF CHINA

In the existing research on Chinese migration, rural domestic Chinese migrants are often portrayed as a community of intruders with a detached culture who invade a host destination city. Usually, as a first step, they settle down in a so-called “Chengzhongcun” (literally a village encircled by the city boundaries, hereafter CZC), which is a kind of “urban village”, or an undeveloped part of a city that is overshadowed by the more developed areas. The present paper tries to give an image of the rural-to-urban migrants as a more vigorous mediator that forms their migration destination. The aims are the following: first, to achieve a detailed written analysis of an existing CZC community and its functioning as a mirror of the discriminating division between the rural and urban life in China. Secondly, by taking into account the experiences of migrant communities in their host cities, this paper seeks to highlight the migrants' emotional conflict and increasing loss of values that occurs in the migration process from the rural to the urban. Thirdly, the migrants' household survival strategies shall be explored. Finally, weaving these strands together, this paper presents a case study of a Tulou collective housing project in Guangzhou Province, China.

Social Welfare and Remittances to Older Adults in Two Caribbean Cities

AbstractThis study explores the correlates of financial and material remittances to older adults in Havana and Bridgetown. These cities, both within countries at a very advanced stage of population ageing, have different institutional contexts for older adults. Data come from the 2000 Survey on Health, Well‐Being and Aging in Latin America and the Caribbean (SABE) of adults 60 years and older with children overseas, Havana (n = 461) and Bridgetown (n = 1,003), representing 342 and 531 families, respectively. Multivariate logistic regression analyses indicate that remittances to Havana were significantly associated with parents' and children's socio‐economic resources. Remittances to Bridgetown were associated with parents' sociodemographic characteristics and sibling's coresidence with parents. In both cities, remittances were positively associated with parents' support of their children. The findings suggest remittances are both a household survival strategy, which can reinforce socioeconomic inequality, and symbolic of social norms of family relations.

Intersectional power dynamics and extended households: Elderly and widowed women’s international migration from Armenia

Drawing upon interviews and fieldwork conducted in Armenia and Turkey with 25 Armenian migrant women and their non-accompanying family members, the present article examines how gendered norms intersecting with age, marital and motherhood statuses have structured the migration decision-making process as it occurs at the household level. These migrant women were mostly elderly, widowed and from extended households, where male income support to the family was either insufficient or wholly absent for a variety of reasons. Building on the Household Survival Strategies (HSS) approach, this article examines the dynamism and complex kinship norms in extended-households and how these have led some women to assume the role of migrant labourers in a patriarchal context that would ordinarily deny them mobility. While empirically this study sheds light on women’s migration from an understudied geography, it also deepens our understanding of the interplay between patriarchy, intersectionality and women’s agency outside of the traditional nuclear household.

The modification of North China quadrangles in response to rural social and economic changes in agricultural villages: 1970–2010s

In Chinese agricultural villages, housing provides multiple functions for rural households. With the transition of state policies and regional socio-economic development in China over the last 40 years, farmers have modified the layout and form of rural housing to adapt to the shifts in their livelihoods and lifestyles. Rural housing built by the remittances of migrant workers has produced negative externalities in densely populated agricultural regions, whilst in some villages, traditional housing has been demolished as part of settlement rationalization plans, with peasants relocated to apartment-style housing. These practices have been controversial and generated conflicts between peasants and local governments. Thus, rural housing has become a theoretical and practical problem in rural China that cannot be resolved with a “one-size-fits-all plan or policy”. Based on field surveys and interviews in three case villages, this paper examines how the form and layout of North China quadrangles (NCQs, or Huabei siheyuan), the four-sided folk housing built by people of the Han nationality in northern China, have been modified since the 1970s. We discuss the land use problems arising from the evolution of NCQs and options for solutions. We found that NCQs in agricultural villages have undergone several dramatic modifications: NCQs built during the collectivist agriculture era (1970s) were traditional in style but had reduced functions; NCQs built during the agriculture intensification era (1980s to mid-1990s) played an important role in agriculture production; and NCQs built in the cyclical migration era (mid-1990s to date) are typically modern and spacious. These modifications to the form of NCQs can be seen as adaptation and survival strategies of rural households in response to socio-economic transitions, their changing livelihoods, and changes in their needs over the course of their lives. Today, rural houses with varied qualities, abandoned houses, and empty plots of land coexist and intermingle together in rural settlements. To manage this chaotic situation, we suggest macro-level solutions with targeted measures to respect variations in farmers’ characteristics and interests and avoid impairing the diversity and adaptability of rural folk housing.

Factors affecting whether environmental migration is temporary or permanent: Evidence from Bangladesh

This study examines whether environmental migrants in Bangladesh move permanently or temporarily. The analyses are based on data collected in 2010 and 2011, and cover four themes, namely migrant characteristics, environmental change related factors, conflict and adaptation strategies, and social networks. The estimates obtained from binary logit models show that most sets of variables have statistically significant impacts on the temporary migration versus permanent migration decision. Females are more inclined to migrate temporarily, a finding which is consistent with prior studies that argued that female migration is one temporary household survival strategy in the face of an environmental crisis. The probability of intending to move temporarily is significantly affected by the prior occupational experience: Migrants who were previously engaged in agriculture or fishing are more inclined to migrate permanently. Those households who reported that they had lost assets due to environmental hazards are shown to have a higher probability of becoming permanent migrants. In contrast, loss of livestock and crop failure are associated with a greater likelihood of temporary migration. The empirical results reveal the groups that can be targeted in destination regions in settlement policy, and equally the groups whose return home can be facilitated once any immediate danger has passed.

Negotiating between family, peers and school: understanding the world of government school and private school students

The present paper, based on an ethnographic study of a government school and a low-cost private school in Andhra Pradesh, India, argues that the students of a government school and a private school have two different worlds and are socialised differently. As children progress from childhood to adolescence, the transition is accompanied by increased responsibilities, cognitive maturity and behavioural changes. At home, socio-economic status, parental educational levels, family atmosphere and household survival strategies influence the way children perceive the world. At school, teachers and peer-group relationships play a cardinal role in moulding children differently. However, family, peers and school are not distinct arenas, but inter-related, and together contribute in shaping the child.

Family Ties and Urban–Rural Linkages among Older Migrants in Nairobi Informal Settlements

ABSTRACTBuilding on African migration as a household survival strategy; urban–rural linkages as critical for migrants' continued engagement with origin communities; reintegration in case of return; and safety net for supplementing precarious urban incomes; we examine the role of family ties in rural origin linkages among 1,693 older migrants living in Nairobi informal settlements. Despite the grim of slum residence, 80% of older migrants in Nairobi slums maintained contact with their rural origin homes during a full year of observation. Family‐related factors, especially members of the nuclear family residing in rural origin, explained 45% of explained linkages. Religion, ethnicity, land ownership at origin, and current health and economic statuses are other key predictors. The patterns and reasons of linkages are consistent with migrants' positive contributions to the upkeep of rural origin households. Our findings are well‐anchored in the larger continental literature that has shown the urban migrant as not a ‘disembedded individual’ but instead part of rural origin collectives. Against the weakness of state safety net system, the study sheds crucial light on the enduring importance of sociocultural networks in people's everyday lives, particularly the importance of family ties for older migrants. To the extent that poor health status, being aged 60 years or older, and long duration of residence in the slums, which are predictors of low propensities to maintain contacts with rural origin, are also indicators of diminished social engagement, policy interventions among the urban poor may need to include efforts to enhance rural origin reintegration of the most‐aged individuals. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Survival strategies of farm households and multifunctional farms in Greece

Multifunctional agriculture is favoured by EU rural policy and considered as a tool for integrated and sustainable rural development. Recent approaches to define the multifunctional practices of rural farm households (different from those of ‘conventional’ agriculture) according to the use of their resources result in three dimensions: deepening, broadening and regrounding. In this paper, the multifunctional practices of farm households in six rural areas of Greece with different characteristics of agricultural production are examined. Data were obtained from interviews with farmers about the practices of their households. The findings indicate that regrounding practices are encountered more often in all areas and are not associated with the degree of the ‘professionalisation’ of agriculture in each area. Broadening and deepening practices are less common for two reasons: some of these practices take place at a level independent from most Greek farmers, and demand appears to shape some of these practices.

Welfare Reform and Household Survival: The Interaction of Structure and Network Strength in the Rio Grande Valley, Texas

The 1996 welfare reform act created 50 state “workfare” systems. This study analyzes the impacts of reform on the survival strategies of single-female headed families in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. The findings indicate that variation in outcomes results from the interaction of structural conditions with private network strength and that access to state support services is determined less by need than by the political-organizational goals of workfare states. The findings suggest that studies of welfare reform incorporate analyses of workfare state policies and practices into explanations of how reform affects household survival strategies and well-being.

The environmental dimensions of the HIV/AIDS pandemic: a call for scholarship and evidence-based intervention

The HIV/AIDS pandemic has had dramatic influence on the demographic dynamics of many of the world's less economically developed regions. Today, an estimated 33 million individuals are living with HIV, and recent data suggest that, every day, over 6800 persons become HIV-infected and over 5700 persons die from AIDS (UNAIDS 2006). The age profile of HIV infection is well known, with new cases impacting primarily prime-age adults. Sub-Saharan Africa remains the world's most affected region with recent population-based surveys suggesting that adult prevalence rates (age 15-49) reaches as high as 25% in Botswana and over 23% in Lesotho (UNAIDS 2006). Still, HIV/AIDS also impacts children, with over 2 million HIV+ individuals under age 15 in sub-Saharan Africa; And the disease profile now includes many individuals over age 50 due to the positive impact on life expectancy of recent treatment advances (UNAIDS 2006).Of course, HIV/AIDS' impacts at the individual and household levels are difficult to discern from aggregate data although ethnographic research provides insights into nuanced household survival strategies (e.g., Evans 2005; Schatz and Ogunmefun 2007). Such work reveals household efforts to maintain a sense of "normality" in response to the impacts of HIV/AIDS, otherwise known as "the disease" (Bohman et al. 2007).

Women and migration in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands: a reader

About the Series ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Part 1. Borderlands as Site of Struggle Toward a Planetary Civil Society / Rosa Linda Fregoso 35 A Glass Half Empty: Latina Reproduction and Public Discourse / Leo R. Chavez 67 Illegal Status and Social Citizenship: Thoughts on Mexican Immigrants in a Postnational World / Adelaida R. Del Castillo 92 Looking Like a Lesbian: The Organization of Sexual Monitoring at the United States-Mexican Border / Eithne Luibheid 106 The Value of Immigrant Life / Jonathan Xavier India 134 Part 2. The Topography of Violence Manufacturing Sexual Subjects: Harassment, Desire, and Discipline on a Maquiladora Shopfloor / Leslie Salzinger 161 The Dialectics of Still Life: Murder, Women, and Maquiladoras / Melissa W. Wright 184 Rape as a Weapon of War: Militarized Rape at the US-Mexico Border / Sylvanna M. Falcon 203 Nunca he dejada de tener terror: Sexual Violence in the Lives of Mexican Immigrant Women / Gloria Gonzalez-Lopez 224 Part 3. Flexible Accumulation and Resistance Changing Constructions of Sexuality and Risk: Migrant Mexican Women Farmworkers in California / Xochitl Castaneda and Patricia Zavella 249 Space, Gender, and Work: Home-Based Workers in Mexico / Faranak Miraftab 269 Mexican Immigrant Women and the New Domestic Labor / Maria de la Luz Ibarra 286 Aqui estamos y no nos vamos Justice for Janitors in Los Angeles and New Citizenship Claims / Cynthia Cranford 306 Part 4. Family Formations and Transnational Social Networks Transborder Families and Gendered Trajectories of Migration and Work / Norma Ojeda de la Pena 327 Women, Migration, and Household Survival Strategies: Mixtec Women in Tijuana / Laura Velasco Ortiz 341 Single-Parent Families: Choice or Constraint? The Formation of Female-Headed Households in Mexican Shanty Towns / Sylvia Chant 360 Working at Motherhood: Chicana and Mexican Immigrant Mothers and Employment / Denise A. Segura 368 Here, but I'm There: The Meanings of Latina Transnational Motherhood / Pierrette Hondagneu-Sotelo and Ernestine Avila 388 Part 5. Transculturation and Identity in Daily Life Reproduction of Gender Relations in the Mexican Migrant Community of New Rochelle, New York / Victoria Malkan 415 En el norte la mujer manda: Gender, Generation, and Geography in a Mexican Transnational Community / Jennifer S. Hirsch 438 Unruly Passions: Poetics, Performance, and Gender in the Ranchera Song / Olga Najera-Ramirez 456 Becoming Selena, Becoming Latina / Deborah Paredez 477 Cyberbrides and Global Imaginaries: Mexican Women's Turn from the National to the Foreign / Felicity Schaeffer-Grabiel 503 Bibliography 521 Contributors 585 Index 587

Urban Agriculture as Local Initiative in Lusaka, Zambia

The topic of urban agriculture has, for a significant period of time, been recognized as a key facet of urban survival in the cities in the South. While it normally forms part of multilivelihood strategies and its overall significance is the subject of some debate, it nonetheless is an important feature of both urban landscapes and urban survival. This paper examines the current status quo of urban agriculture in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia. Structural adjustment and downscaling of the key copper mining sector seems to have forced more people into various informal survival strategies, including urban agriculture. Despite the apparent growing significance of urban agriculture, as illustrated by significant recent vegetation clearances around the city, official policy remains ambivalent and it has not been adequately supported or catered for in urban planning. While it remains officially illegal, controls are seldom enforced and urban farmers persist with what is a key household survival strategy under trying circumstances.