Do you always get what you give? A mixed-methods approach to reciprocity within the informal (trans)national social protection networks of migrants

Abstract

This study focuses on the importance of reciprocity in migrants’ protective social networks. It uses Marshall Sahlins’ concepts of generalized, balanced, and unbalanced (negative) reciprocity for empirical analysis of different logics of distribution of social protection. The findings are based on a sample of migrants from Kazakhstan and Poland who are living in Germany. The study was conducted using a convergent parallel mixed-methods approach that involves different types of data (from interviews and egocentric networks) and different methods of data analysis. The results indicate a variety of different logics of reciprocity and show the crucial role of reciprocity in the distribution of informal social protection. In addition, this paper shows that the transnationality of a network does not influence this general norm of reciprocity, although quantitative and qualitative findings indicate the prevalence and favoritism, respectively, of certain allocation types of protection across borders.