The Transnational Social Question:
From Social Protection
to Social Inequalities
Thomas Faist
Centre on Migration, Citizenship and Development
(COMCAD), Department of Sociology
Bielefeld University
The Transnational Social Question
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Social Question in the 19th century – Transnational Social
Question today? “Great transformation“  “second
great transformation“?
Is there a transformation of mainly national social policy
within welfare states to global social policy in the 21st
century?
Increasing (perception of) global interdependencies: e.g.
migration, military threats, environmental degradation,
opportunity (such as professionals) -- and increasing
awareness of global social inequalities (e.g. MDG)
Migration and Social Protection
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Migration can be seen as a form of social protection
Social protection provisioning is also important for
migrants due primarily to migrant-specific
vulnerabilities
Issues involve (a) the access of migrants to basic social
benefits in the immigration country, (b) the portability
of social security benefits, specifically pensions and
healthcare benefits, once they return to their home
country, and (c) non-state support structures consisting
of migrant networks, associations, etc.
Social Inequalities and
Transnational Social Protection
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Social protection reduces risks and thus decreases
social inequalities
Social rights and social policies stabilize welfare
capitalism as a legitimate system of social
inequality on the national level
How does cross-border migration contribute to
social protection and (re)produce social
inequalities?
Arguments
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Methodologicalical transnationalism:
Overcoming static approaches to social
protection & inequality which focus on one
frame only
Empirical finding: Transnational social
protection addresses global social inequalities,
yet creates new forms of inequalities in both
emigration and immigration regions
Outline
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Part 1: Approaching Transnational Social
Protection
Part 2: Universal Social Rights and Fragmented
Welfare Stateness
Part 3: The Rise of Migrants as Development
Agents and Changing Principles Social Order
Part 4: The (Re-)Production of Social
Inequalities
Part 1:
Approaching Transnational
Social Protection
The Optics Available
National, World, Transnational
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Analyses of National Welfare States are often concerned
with (a) integration of migrants and their children
(social integration) and (b) functionings of welfare state
as such (e.g. demography) (national systems integration)
Neo-institutionalist (world) theories are interested in how
world-cultural ontology spreads into international and
national law, e.g. social rights as human rights
Transnational Optic so far has been mostly concerned
with practices of migrants and their significant others –
yet little consideration of changing institutions
Transnational Assemblages
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Institutional Assemblage of differentiated forms of
welfare stateness and other forms of social
protection – modern and traditional / informal
and formal
Transnational lens: National/regional systems of
protection criss-crossed  transnational spaces
as reference points
Part 2:
Universal Social Rights
and Fragmented Welfare
Stateness
Social Rights as Human Rights

Social rights include those listed in the General
Declaration of Human Rights (1948): Elementary
school education, health care, minimum income, secure
employment, right to collective organization in the
workplace, food, shelter, social security

Specifications: International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (1966), the Convention on
the Rights of the Child (1989), and the European
Charter of Fundamental Rights (2000)
Social Security in Global Perspective
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Beyond welfare stateness and bilateral treaties
there is little redistribution; nonetheless, there is
regulation (e.g. European Union);
Globally mostly „soft law“, such as corporate
social responsibility, social labels, codes of
conduct (e.g. Global Compact)
Adequate concepts? Social rights  social
standards  capabilities (Sen)
A Global Perspective:
Fragmented Welfare Stateness
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(1) Welfare stateness is mostly restricted to national
welfare states in the OECD countries
(2) In so-called NICs often considerable evolution over
the past decades in “human investment sectors“
(education, health); cp. transformation countries
(3) In so-called developing countries often only available to
very select groups
(4) In marginalized regions high degrees of existential
insecurity (Hobbesian world)
The Four Worlds of Social Security
World 1
World 2
World 3
OECD
NICs /
Transformation states
„Developing „MarginaWorld“
lized
World“
Working
population
75-90
70-90
Informal
Activities:
30-50
Informal
Activities:
70-90
Extent of union
organization
25-50
30-50
5-15
n.a.
Public expenditure 35-45
as percentage of
GDP
30-40
20-30
10-25
Welfare
expenditure as
percentage of
GDP
15-25
5-10
2-5
20-30
World 4
Towards a Global
Social Policy Model?
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1970s/80s: Structural adjustment policies
(Africa, Latin America, South Asia)
Followed by “post-Washington consensus”
(1) combination of a liberal market approach
with market-based insurance and targeted
policies for the “poor/needy”
(2) Social capital and local community, e.g.
empowerment, capabilities
Part 3:
The Rise of Migrants as
Development Agents and
Changing Principles
of Social Order
Connecting the Four Worlds:
Transnational Migration
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Transnational social policy - problems: (awareness of)
interdependencies, suprastatal authority, belief in
effective policies
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Migration as a strategic research site for transnational
social protection
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Migrants connect various “worlds“ and scales:
(1) Agents: persons, groups, organizations;
(2) Systems: different social protection systems
The Virtuous Circle of
Migration and Development
Rate of
Migration
Degree of
Development
• Remittances
(individual und
collective)
• Investments
• Transfer of
human capital
and social
remittances
Changing Concepts of Social Order
Principles of Social Order:
Stateness, Market and Community & Civil Society
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Stateness and Civil Society
National development state  combinations of local state, civil
society (NGOs) and international organizations; also: codéveloppement, diaspora, transnational communities
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Market and Civil Society
„Market citizen“ as well as participatory/ grass roots approaches
Part 4:
Social Protection and the
(Re-)Production
of Social Inequalities
Social Protection and Migration
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Single most important determinant of life
chances is the place (legal citizenship) where a
person is born
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Social insecurity (existential) and social security:
migration may expand a person’s capabilities –
livelihood approach and new economics of
migration
Social Protection in
Transnational Social Spaces
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Structure: Combinations of functionally highly
differentiated institutions AND small groups and
networks (e.g. kinship groups, religious communities)
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Resources: financial remittances; „social remittances“
Nonetheless: „brain drain“ in certain sectors
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Sectors: Central for social protection is remittances in
sectors such as health and education; construction and
small manufacturing
Institutional Arrangements
Low
Degree of Formalization
---------------------------
Friendship networks
High
Families/housheolds/
Kinship groups
Hometown Associations
Cultural Associations
Rotating Credit Associations
Funeral Societies (based on reciprocity)
Issue Networks
NGOs (INGOS, HRINGOS)
Religious Communities
STATES:
Bi- and supranational conventions
Extra-territorial social rights
The (Re-)Production of Social
Inequalities: An Example
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Transnational personal care services market
linking social protection in regions of origin and
destination; e.g. care migration Romania /
Ukraine – Italy
“Care drain“/“social orphans“– reorganization
of care in immigration and emigration regions
(kinship; market) – problems: aged/children
Mechanisms Generating Inequalities
- Some Examples Social Formation/
General Social
Mechanisms
Small Groups /
Networks
- Relational -
Societies/
Societal systems
- Systemic -
Social closure:
In-/exclusion
Belonging (e.g. access to
networks and jobs)
Citizenship (e.g. irregular
status; visa free travel;
„transnational“ citizenship)
Social closure:
Opportunity
hoarding
Cliques
Lobbying
(e.g. reciprocity in friendship (e.g. policy brokerage of
networks, kinship systems)
social scientists)
Exploitation
Working conditions
(e.g. household work)
Redistribution (e.g. skills and
care drain: extraction from
sending to receiving
regions)
Future Research
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Questionable concept: “remittances“
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Intersectional patterns of the generation of
inequality: class-ization, gender-ization, ethnicization
Perspectival Social Inequalities
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Empirical finding: Social inequalities
(1) may increase on one scale (e.g. household)
but may decrease on another (e.g. regions)
(2) different positions in various contexts
(emigration vs. immigration) and transnational
reference system
Normative question: Tolerate “small
inequalities“ to address “bigger inequalities“?
THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION