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For students, study abroad has its advantages but might also have unwanted adverse ef-fects, such as social isolation and loneliness. We analyze the role of emotional support in understanding loneliness among Chinese international students in Germany, in comparison to local students, from a gender perspective. Based on a representative sample, our findings suggest that Chinese international students feel lonelier than local ones. Female Chinese international students are less lonely compared to male ones, whereas the opposite is true for local students. Contrary to our expectations, a higher number of emotionally supportive ties is associated with higher levels of loneliness for all the students. Our further analysis of the correlation between emotional support and loneliness separately for the four subgroups indicates that while for female local students having more emotionally supportive ties is as-sociated with lower levels of loneliness, for female Chinese international students we find the opposite trend. For all male students, we find no significant effect of emotional support on loneliness. We recommend conducting a longitudinal study for examining the causality of the relationship between networks and loneliness in the future. Results have important implica-tions for universities and higher education research in understanding the role of networks on loneliness.

Research on stratification and inequality has been mainly preoccupied with differential resource allocation in a given society, thereby mainly assuming that class is the main predictor. In addition to class, more recent studies have turned their attention to multiple dimensions of inequality including gender, ethnicity/race, and age among others, thus using the term in the plural and investigating the processes leading to inequalities and stratification. Moreover, analysis of inequalities has usually been conducted within nation‐state frameworks, while contemporary transnational research argues for a deconstruction of territorialist and container thinking. This entry provides an analytical overview of a vast literature on the theories of social stratification and inequality while identifying the main arguments of classical and contemporary approaches.

Drawing on the fourth cycle of East York study interviews with 101 Torontonians, we investigate the ways in which they stay connected within and across borders. Previous research has ample evidence that international migrants have regular interpersonal contact with their family and friends who live in different nation-states, thanks to advances in telecommunication technologies. Contrary to earlier work that studied specific migrant groups from one country of origin at a time, the unique dataset of East York study enables us to study a variety of persons with different mobility histories to Toronto. We compare international migrants to those who have migrated from elsewhere in Canada, those who have moved within the greater Toronto area, and those who have stayed in place. In so doing, we have a broad, and yet, fine-grained understanding of how different mobile persons’ practice transnationality, meaning the degree of having and communicating with personal ties across borders. We ask to what extent the respondents kept in touch across borders and distances, which communication channels they used, and whether the type of tie and the respondents’ region of origin affect the maintenance of that particular tie. Contributing to communication, migration, and network studies, this paper advances knowledge by its in-depth analysis of both mobile and non-mobile Torontonians’ mode of communication, depending on the type and location of their personal ties.

In this chapter we examine six different migration phases between Germany and Turkey focusing on their economic and socio-cultural developmental impacts: (1) migration of academics escaping from Nazi persecution to Turkey (1930–50); (2) entrepreneurial small-scale migration from Turkey to Germany (1950–60); (3) guest worker recruitment starting the official labour migration (1961–73); (4) settlement phase with family unification (1973–90); (5) asylum seeking period (1989–2000); (6) contemporary two-way flows (2000–present). We question the concept of the migration corridor and advocate that it is quite restricted because it gives the impression of a homogeneous and often uni-directional flow of people. Therefore, we argue for a nuanced understanding of a migration corridor given the heterogeneity of mobility and two-way flows over the years between cities and regions leading to corridors within country corridors.

This chapter examines the strong relationship between education and migration focusing on reproduction of social disadvantage. First, student and academic mobility are investigated because their main purpose of international mobility is closely interlinked with education yet different processes of stratification were pinpointed. Second, the link between labour migration and education is examined highlighting formal and informal recognition of educational credentials in different social contexts. Third, second-generation migrants’ access to education systems and educational attainment in the countries of immigration were reviewed centering on disadvantages on intergenerational social mobility. This chapter argued that material aspects, social status, recognition, social and cultural elements and the ways in which they are evaluated by a variety of actors are crucial in access to and distribution of resources that are crucial in reproduction of social disadvantage. Values to education and jobs, thus social positions once were being assigned within national frameworks, now is done transnationally involving multiple actors.

This chapter examines transnationalism in migration studies. First, we investigate the initial conceptualizations of the transnational perspective on migration and efforts at systematization. Second, we evaluate the discussions around contentious issues regarding past vs. present transnationalism, the extent of transnationalism among migrants, and transnationalism, globalization, states and politics. We outline a typology of transnationalism in which transnational social spaces are differentiated according to the internal characteristics of group organization and the extent of common or shared values and symbols. Third, we examine methodological notes on transnational research where we assess the term transnationality. We identify multiple research techniques used in transnational studies and conclude that nowadays mixed methods research is on the rise. Finally, we offer some venues for further research through a transnational optic where the focus should be on changing boundaries as social spaces are composed of dynamic processes.

International migration is often a quest for better life chances in other countries for individuals and their family members spread across manifold nation-states. There is ample evidence showing the importance of financial remittances sent by migrants for the daily lives of their families who are left behind in the countries of emigration. While migrants are conceptualized as being providers of financial support, in return, their family members usually in the countries of origin are pictured as being important in the lives of migrants mainly in terms of emotional support. Yet, social support exchanged across borders among persons who reside in various nation-states as well as the ways it is organized and negotiated are part of transnational social protection framework. Contextualizing social support exchanges informally among persons within the wider social structures of nation-states, this paper investigates how personal relationships are redefined through such exchanges. Because majority of the studies are conducted with migrants themselves, exchanges of social support tends to be evaluated only from the perspective of migrants. Based on qualitative interviews with Turkish migrants living in Germany (20) and their significant others in Turkey (10) through a matched sample, this paper investigates the evaluations of social support from both ends. In addition, based on the personal network analysis of the 30 respondents, this paper analyzes what is being exchanged with whom and how reciprocity works in this sample. Surprisingly, there is a mismatch in the eyes of the givers and the receivers of social support mostly about who has the upper hand and what the expectations are compared with the reality of social support exchanges. The paper also explains this mismatch split along gender and class lines.

In a global context where knowledge plays a crucial role in, among others, economic growth and regional development, migrants, international students, academics, and highly skilled professionals have been increasingly considered valuable human capital for economies as well as for higher education institutions. Knowledge is generally seen as a competence generated through learning, experience, using specific languages, and being part of different societal groups. In the analysis of transnational knowledge transfer, brokers have often been ascribed a beneficial role in knowledge circulation between their country of origin and their current country of residence, which eventually leads to investments or flows of capital. Obviously, the location of experts matters whenever frequent face-to-face interaction is a prerequisite for knowledge creation and circulation, particularly for the tacit mode of knowledge. Spatial concentration is also crucial in enabling persons to get together and create a relationship conducive to sharing their knowledge, and thus for the emergence of knowledge exchange and transfer.

Transnational social spaces are multidimensional in terms of the socio-spatial categories - that is, local, global, and national - and different actors and institutions involved. Recent developments in transnational methodology argue for a thorough reflection on the challenges of methodological nationalism, essentialism, and researchers' positionality. Therefore, in designing and conducting transnational research, reflections on methodological challenges become a crucial step. Yet, as these challenges often remain to be discussed on a methodological level, their implementation still needs to be set out clearly to be useful for empirical research in transnational social spaces such as on social protection. For that reason, we discuss transnational research designs as well as different methods of data collection and analysis. We argue for a multisited and mixed-method research design, which includes the emigration and the immigration countries, as well as the involvement of research teams located across borders. Thereby, a combination of perspectives between emigration and immigration countries in transnational social spaces can be achieved. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This concluding article to our special issue places the linkage of social protection and social inequalities in a broader context, namely the transnational social question in Europe and its periphery. The transnational social question pertains to the perception of social inequalities as illegitimate and to their politicisation. In so doing, this article also draws preliminary conclusions, based upon the main findings of the contributions in this special issue, with respect to the social protection strategies utilised by migrants and their significant others, both within and across borders. Transnationality as a marker of heterogeneity is of strategic significance for our understanding of the transnational social question, because it reveals the linkages across the fragmented worlds of social protection. In particular, it provides a window into the social mechanisms that underline social protection across borders and how these mitigate old and generate new social inequalities. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

This paper examines the social protection strategies of migrants living in Turkish-German transnational social space. Drawing on 20 interviews conducted with migrants in Germany and ten with their significant others in Turkey with a matched sample, we investigate stitching' strategy, that is, a process by which migrants in the host country continually attach themselves to the society back in their country of origin and, as a result, tap into protective resources in their interpersonal networks. We discuss the significance of high levels of transnationality displayed by our sample in protective resource flows and the ways in which inequalities are created and recreated from the respondents' perspectives. By examining transnationality as a marker of heterogeneity, our study contributes to the literature through an in-depth analysis of a major strategy for social protection while analysing the meaning of reciprocal relationships. Copyright (c) 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.