Gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of Thai marriage migrants in Austria

In this paper, we investigate whether marriage‐related migration promotes socioeconomic mobility and how class belonging and educational background affects Thai women's migration experience and socioeconomic mobility. Drawing on qualitative interviews, supported by a questionnaire survey with T...

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Main Authors: Butratana, Kosita, Trupp, Alexander *
Format: Article
Published: Wiley 2021
Subjects:
Online Access:http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1568/
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author Butratana, Kosita
Trupp, Alexander *
author_facet Butratana, Kosita
Trupp, Alexander *
author_sort Butratana, Kosita
building SU Institutional Repository
collection Online Access
description In this paper, we investigate whether marriage‐related migration promotes socioeconomic mobility and how class belonging and educational background affects Thai women's migration experience and socioeconomic mobility. Drawing on qualitative interviews, supported by a questionnaire survey with Thai women living in Austria and who are in a relationship with a Western male citizen, we seek to dismantle simplistic notions about hypergamy and question common assumption about marrying up or down in migration contexts. We compare socioeconomic indicators such as formal education, occupation, and income before and after the migration and analyse migrants’ experiences in Austria. The results show a complex picture of upward and downward socioeconomic mobilities. Two distinct scenarios of paradoxical mobilities have been identified. On the one hand, some migrants feel empowered (when experiencing economic downward mobility) as they enjoy the freedom of living in Austria, while on the other hand, those migrants experiencing upward mobility feel a loss of their personal autonomy.
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spelling sunway-15682021-02-02T07:16:43Z http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1568/ Gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of Thai marriage migrants in Austria Butratana, Kosita Trupp, Alexander * HM Sociology In this paper, we investigate whether marriage‐related migration promotes socioeconomic mobility and how class belonging and educational background affects Thai women's migration experience and socioeconomic mobility. Drawing on qualitative interviews, supported by a questionnaire survey with Thai women living in Austria and who are in a relationship with a Western male citizen, we seek to dismantle simplistic notions about hypergamy and question common assumption about marrying up or down in migration contexts. We compare socioeconomic indicators such as formal education, occupation, and income before and after the migration and analyse migrants’ experiences in Austria. The results show a complex picture of upward and downward socioeconomic mobilities. Two distinct scenarios of paradoxical mobilities have been identified. On the one hand, some migrants feel empowered (when experiencing economic downward mobility) as they enjoy the freedom of living in Austria, while on the other hand, those migrants experiencing upward mobility feel a loss of their personal autonomy. Wiley 2021-10-05 Article PeerReviewed Butratana, Kosita and Trupp, Alexander * (2021) Gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of Thai marriage migrants in Austria. Singapore Journal of Tropical Geography, 42 (1). pp. 85-106. ISSN 0129-7619 http://doi.org/10.1111/sjtg.12343 doi:10.1111/sjtg.12343
spellingShingle HM Sociology
Butratana, Kosita
Trupp, Alexander *
Gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of Thai marriage migrants in Austria
title Gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of Thai marriage migrants in Austria
title_full Gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of Thai marriage migrants in Austria
title_fullStr Gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of Thai marriage migrants in Austria
title_full_unstemmed Gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of Thai marriage migrants in Austria
title_short Gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of Thai marriage migrants in Austria
title_sort gender, class, and paradoxical mobilities of thai marriage migrants in austria
topic HM Sociology
url http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1568/
http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1568/
http://eprints.sunway.edu.my/1568/