1

Access of highly skilled migrants to transnational labor markets.

Is class formation transcending national divides? Anja Weiss (principle author) University of Duisburg-Essen Institute of Sociology, Lotharstr. 63, 47057 Duisburg Germany phone: *49-203-379-1988, phone and fax: *49-201-9469980, E-mail: anja.weiss@uni-due.de Samuel N-A. Mensah University of the Free State, South Africa Department of Economics, QwaQwa Campus, Private Bag X13, Phuthaditjhaba 9866, South Africa phone: *27-58-7185067, Fax: *27-58-7185118, E-mail: mensahsna@qwa.uovs.ac.za Manuscript submitted to: Rehbein, Boike (ed) Globalization and Inequality in Emerging Societies. Palgrave Macmillan Contributor Information Anja Weiß, Professor for Macro-Sociology and Transnational Processes at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Areas of specialization: transnationalization of social inequality, migration, racism and ethnic conflict, transnational comparison. Recent publications: Kulturelles Kapital in der Migration (ed. with Nohl, Schittenhelm, Schmidtke) VS 2010; Comparative research on highly skilled migrants. In: Forum Qualitative Research 2007 7 (3); The racism of globali-zation. In: Macedo and Gounari (Eds.) The globalization of racism. Paradigm 2006; The transnationalization of social inequality. In: Current Sociology 2005 53 (4); Overcoming me-thodological nationalism in migration research. (with Nohl) In: Amelina, Nergiz, and Faist (eds.). Beyond Methodological Nationalism. Routledge: in print.

Dr. Samuel N-A Mensah, Subject Head for Economics, University of the Free State, Qwaqwa Campus, Phuthaditjhaba, South Africa. Area of specialization: Macroeconomics, economic policy analysis, international economics, labour economics (international migration). Recent publications: Entrepreneurship training and poverty alleviation: empowering the poor in the Eastern Free State of South Africa. In: African Journal of Economic and Management Stu-dies, 2010 1(2); Migration Shocks: Integrating Lesotho’s Retrenched Migrant Miners. Inter-national Migration Review (Forthcoming). Word Count 9730 words (including abstract, endnotes and references)

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Abstract

Traditionally academic discourse on class has accepted the frame offered by the nation-state.

This makes the analysis of the class position of migrants and transnational relations of inequa-

lity in general difficult to handle. The article clarifies the concept of transnational class and

explores its empirical relevance. By comparing the labor market position of three groups of

highly qualified migrants—German expatriates in developing and transition economies, IT

specialists from these economies now working in Germany, and African academics working

in South African universities—contrasts which could result from the nation state system are

maximized, making the finding that the three groups reach a similar labor market position

significant. Barriers to promotion diverge in content but not outcome. The findings support

the assumption of transnational class formation which will be discussed in the first and final

sections of the chapter. The article refers to empirical material concerning the three groups in

question but largely attempts to make a theoretical argument.

Keywords Class Theory, Transnational Class Formation, Labor Market, Highly Skilled Mi-

gration, Professionals, Germany, South Africa

3

Globalization situates nation states in transnational and global networks (Castells 2000), and

global flows of finance and of people must become part of sociological analyses (Albrow

1997, Urry 2000). This has implications for the concept of class which traditionally has been

framed by the nation state and national politics (Beck 2007). In particular an increased effort

is necessary for understanding the class position of persons who are embedded in more than

one nation state or who do not have access to the protection of a strong state. Those living

under conditions of graduated sovereignty (Ong 1999), ethnic and racial minorities as well as

migrants are situated in (several) states but also in transnational labor markets and social net-

works and this has implications for concepts of their class position.

We contend that the concept of class and research on class formation should be transnational

in perspective. Firstly the analytic focus of class is closely connected to the sphere of produc-

tion, which has been and still is inter- and transnational. Secondly, while nation states tend to

frame the formation of most classes (Wallerstein 1983), a perspective which assumes that this

is always so neglects the fact that the nation state system also generates social inequality by

unequally placing persons in centre-periphery hierarchies (Shamir 2005) and by controlling

the spatial autonomy of migrant populations (Weiß 2005, Struna 2009). The impact of politi-

cal projects on inequality in the world can be seen in current symbolic struggles about the

protection of national welfare (termed as populism by Pelfini in this book) against neoliberal-

ism (Bourdieu 2005, Wacquant 2009: 306) and its guises. This is a critical concern for mi-

grants (Pécoud and De Guchteneire 2007) as national closure can have a very negative impact

on their class position. The political system should therefore be seen as one of the structuring

forces impacting on class formation and not as the only possible frame for studies of class. In

the first part of the paper we emphasize the spatial ambivalence of the concept of class and

discuss recent work on transnational class formation.

The hypothesis of a transnational class formation calls for innovative research contributing to

theory formulation. In the second part of the paper we suggest a research design which syste-

matically contrasts ways in which nation states and the nation state system impact on class

formation. We are looking at highly skilled migrants, who occupy an ambivalent position be-

tween a globalizing economy on the one hand, which gives their cultural capital world-wide

currency, and the national organization of politics on the other hand, which counteracts the

formation of a transnational class. Our research comprises three groups of highly skilled mi-

grants, who are not often compared: IT-professionals who migrated to Germany from devel-

oping or transitional societies (hereafter “IT-professionals”), German expatriates who mi-

4

grated to these societies (“expatriates”) and African academics migrating from countries out-

side South Africa to South Africa (“academics”). Empirical research of this kind can be a first

step in empirically grounding and theoretically strengthening the concept of transnational

class formation.

In the third part of the paper we present results on the structural similarities and differences in

the labor market position of the diverse migrant groups. Do national affiliations prevail or can

we find similarities which point toward a transnational class formation? In part four we draw

conceptual conclusions from the empirical results.

1. Transnational Class Formation

When the concept of class was taken up by Marx, it signified antagonistic positions in the

division of labor. The capitalist class is defined by its ownership of the means of production;

the working class is dependent on selling their labor (Marx and Engels 1969 [1848]). Since

the economic system was international even then, the Marxian concept of class was interna-

tional, too.

Marx developed his concept of class not only as a theorist, but also as a political activist and

therefore was also concerned with the development of the working class into a political agent.

He predicted that the "working class" as a social group would constitute a class-for-itself, i.e.

a political force that translates its number into political power to improve its share of total

product. In a political system of nation-states, this entailed classes becoming national. Hence

the theoretical basis and the political ambition of Marx’s theory contradicted each other.

The ambiguous spatial relations of class have been expressed most clearly by Wallerstein

(1979: 61): "Within a world-economy, the state structures function as ways for particular

groups to affect and distort the functioning of the market. (…) Furthermore, this explains the

ambiguity of class as a concept, since class refers to the economy which is worldwide, but

class consciousness is a political, hence primarily national, phenomenon." In contrast to Marx

Wallerstein foresaw political-economic reasons why class relations cannot be grasped entirely

in a nation-state frame: Exploited majorities in the periphery might fight both against the local

bourgeois collaborators of core countries and against the dependent position of their entire

nation in the world-economy. Their class-interest can therefore be expressed as a “local”

struggle against the local upper class. Alternatively exploited majorities in peripheral states

can opt to integrate the local upper class into a nationalist struggle for a better position of their

state in the capitalist world system (Wallerstein 1979: 200). In spite of this addition to Marx’

5

perspective Wallerstein generally agrees that classes can only develop inside of nation states

and so has little interest in migration.

Newer authors have tried to argue for a transnational concept of class, but many have re-

mained bound to the Marxian dichotomization: they continue to view the objective basis of

class as economic and therefore transnational whereas social class formation is seen as politi-

cal, social and cultural and therefore national. Sklair follows the economic lead of Marx’ class

theory in that he defines the transnational capitalist class by a shared (economic) interest in

the promotion of globalisation, via a common and transnational "culture-ideology of consu-

merism" (Sklair 2001: 6). With that definition, Sklair argues that the elite of executives from

more than 80 major transnational corporations, whom he interviewed, constitute an emergent

transnational capitalist class. Other scholars of transnational class formation contradict Sklair.

They insist that classes cannot be reduced to economic position and a shared ideology. They

follow more recent theories of class that have given priority to the social, political and cultural

aspects of class formation (Parkin 1979, Bourdieu 1984, Souza in this book) and who general-

ly presuppose the framework of the nation state. Under this precondition the search for a

transnational class-for-itself remains inconclusive.

Hartmann studied the national origin, international experience and educational history of top

managers in the 100 largest British, French, German and U.S. corporations—including trans-

national corporations. He found that the top echelons of corporations have little tendency to

move across national borders or to adopt transnational lifestyles (Hartmann 2000, Hartmann

2002). Research on transnational corporate ties (Nollert 2005) is however conducive to the

idea that at least part of the corporate elite does form a strong network of social ties which

crosses national borders. As Carroll (2009) has shown this transnational network does not

replace national networks but it does effectively integrate national networks into a transna-

tional network of North Atlantic corporate elites; a rising portion of members of the corporate

elite sits on boards in several countries and is part of a highly integrated transnational social

network. Empirical research on transnational class formation mostly focuses on top elites and

we can only guess whether transnational social class formation may be more or less likely in

the upper-middle than in the top corporate elite group (as suggested by Xiang forthcoming).

As transnational epistemic communities (Coe and Bunnell 2003) tend to comprise post-

colonial cultural elites it is likely that transnational middle classes are not only found in the

North Atlantic but also in emerging economies.

So far, the debate about transnational class formation is empirically and theoretically incon-

clusive. In a first step, a transnational perspective on class must overcome the contradictions

6

initiated by Marx. We should accept that class formation is structured both by the economic

system and by the political system of nation states and that it comprises socio-cultural

processes besides political-economic ones. In contrast to Wallerstein (1979: 291), we would

not view the nation state system merely as a regulating institution in the capitalist world-

economy. Instead (national welfare) states and the political system follow their own logic that

needs not coincide with the economic system (Bommes and Geddes 2000). This is particular-

ly relevant for migrants’ class position, as nation states control access to a national territory or

inclusion in the institution of citizenship (Brubaker 1992).

Understanding classes as being formed by economic and political processes secondly suggests

a more complex concept of class than the one proposed by Marx. Following Bourdieu’s

(1986) lead in defining class-in-itself on the basis of economic, cultural and social capital we

see objective classes as abstract positions in social space characterized by the quality and

quantity of the three forms of capital that generally results in a class habitus, i.e. a shared

practice and world view (Bourdieu 1984). Given adequate symbolic representation abstract

classes can, but need not become a class-for-itself (in Bourdieu’s terms “classified”, “classify-

ing” or “mobilizing” classes) (Bourdieu 1987). Our class analysis therefore focuses on the

objective aspects of class and their reflection in habitus, not on mobilizing classes (such as

Piper and Rother as well as Pelfini in this book).

Both of these steps enable us to take a closer look at the main concern of a transnational pers-

pective in class analysis: Given the existence of significant transnational populations, net-

works, spaces and fields (Faist 2000, Pries 2001, Levitt and Glick Schiller 2004, Pries 2008),

proponents of a theory of transnational class formation assume that some classes develop

beyond the framework of the nation state in their abstract position, their class habitus and pos-

sibly also in mobilization. This is especially likely for migrants who live and work, earn and

spend in more than one nation-state (Weiß 2005, Struna 2009). It also concerns sedentary

populations who are directly competing in globalized labor markets (Iredale 2001). Their glo-

balizing interests differ from other fractions of the middle classes whose interests verge on

national closure.

For potential transnational classes the interaction of the nation-state system with the economy

takes a specific form: By regulating trans-border flows of labor (Bauman 1998, Shamir 2005),

and the recognition of cultural capital (Nohl 2008) and by strengthening racist symbolic capi-

tal (Weiß 2006c, 2010) the nation state system impacts directly on the class-position of those

people—migrants, global economic and cultural elites—who are most likely to constitute the

core of emergent transnational classes. This may result in a similarity of experience which

7

could become part of a transnational class habitus. Sharing the experience of a global mobility

regime and concurring in the standards of globalizing educational and professional fields

could result in homologies in habitus, even when the members of a transnational class do not

frequent the same elite institutions or intermarry, and irrespective of ethnic origin. So we

would agree with Sklair that a transnational class must be situated economically and political-

ly in transnational social spaces and fields. We also expect socio-cultural similarities in the

habitus and socio-cultural reproduction of a transnational class, but we do not follow Hart-

mann’s expectation, that transnational (social) classes must become classes-for-themselves

and overcome inter-national differences altogether.

After clarifying some of the contradictions inherent in simplistic concepts of class and after

discussing theoretical options for the concept of transnational class formation we are now able

to formulate a research strategy for empirically grounding and theoretically elaborating on the

concept: if we assume that both economy and nation state system structure class positions,

then transnational class positions are those which cannot be mapped upon a single nation

state. This does not mean that hierarchies between nation states do not play a role. If we were

able to find classes, for which transnational structures (i.e. labor markets, homologies in atti-

tudes, etc.) prevail over the effects of the nation state system, it would support the assumption

of transnational class formation.

2. A Qualitative Research Design Addressing the Assumption of

Transnational Class Formation

Social inequality is usually researched on the basis of large representative data sets. These

data sets are collected, organized and analyzed in the framework of the nation state, which

results in an under-representation of migrants in most data sets. Therefore, at the moment, it is

quite difficult to use available data sets to learn more about transnational class formation

among the most mobile parts of the world’s population. Qualitative research methods on the

other hand do not attempt to assess hypotheses by examining representative samples. Instead

a smaller number of cases are chosen in a way that ensures a maximum of variation with re-

spect to many "variables". This kind of qualitative experimenting (Kleining and Witt 2001) is

different from laboratory experiments in that it does not seek to change only one independent

variable with the goal of finding “probable” results from this change. Instead, the sample is

selected with several contrasts in mind in order to maximize the chance both of unexpected

results and of falsifying theoretical assumptions—in this case the assumption of transnational

class formation.

8

By choosing highly skilled migrants whose cultural capital is transnationally recognized (he-

reafter “transnationally skilled migrants”) for our research on transnational class formation,

we have purposefully focused on an “extreme” group, that—having overcome personal ties to

a specific nation state and political barriers to migration—is more likely than others to expe-

rience transnationalisation of their political-economic position, and social relations as well.

Transnationally skilled migrants form a particularly educated tranche among highly skilled

migrants, as they possess transnationally valid forms of cultural capital, such as IT-experience

or esteemed MBAs, which are effectively upper-middle class “passports” within global labor

markets (Iredale 2001, Beaverstock et al. 2002). Nation-states have tended to reduce barriers

to free movement for these sought-after migrants. Being highly skilled and living as migrants

should therefore maximise transnationalisation.

At the same time, the sampling has tried to maximise the influence of the nation-state system

by selecting only migrants who passed a threshold of inequality (Bommes 1999) in the course

of their migration. This condition was operationalized as entering or leaving the European

Union or South Africa respectively. More specifically the project compares eleven IT-

specialists who have migrated individually from developing and transformation societies to

Germany with seven German expatriates who have been sent to developing and transforma-

tion societies by German employers and with ten African academics migrating from their

countries of origin to South Africa, i.e. from developing societies into an emerging society

and a racially structured labor market. As migration research tends to focus on migration to

and from core countries, these groups are rarely considered together. They are separated not

only by the direction of their migration, but also by other differences, such as whether their

migration is organization based or individual (Salt and Findlay 1989). In addition to these

social structural factors the social and cultural background of the sample also is diverse. Pass-

ing a threshold of inequality and coming from heterogeneous national backgrounds should

maximize nation state related contrasts in the sample. Note, that it will not be possible to sin-

gle out specific causal factors for differences between the contrasted groups as the groups

differ in many aspects at the same time.

For reasons of brevity the empirical results that are presented in this article focus on labor

market position.1 In an abstract sense, labor market position depends on the social, cultural

and political recognition of resources; it is contested in social closure and symbolic struggles

and it impacts on a person’s economic, cultural and social capital via income and professional

position. Several theorists have stressed that the control of nation states over labor markets

results in disadvantages for migratory or ethnic minority populations (Bonacich 1972, Offe

9

and Hinrichs 1984). In terms of empirical research, the income and privileges granted by a

specific position currently held by an interviewee and the career aspirations of interviewees

active in labor markets offer a wealth of information on interviewee’s resources and habitus.

By identifying actual and potential employers interviewees also give us information on the

socio-geographical extensions of the labor market(s) in which they are active. The more im-

plicit aspects of class such as habitus and distinctions (Bourdieu 1999, Weiß 2006b) were

identified through reconstructive and comparative interpretation as subjects themselves are

not always aware of their practices of distinction. For an analysis of racism and differential

treatment it may be important to consider that the German expatriates as well as the African

academics were interviewed by insiders—a white German and a black African migrant re-

spectively.2 The IT-professionals were also interviewed by a white German which will most

likely result in them being polite about the differential treatment they may have experienced

in Germany.

In the search for contradictions to a hypothesis, the logical deductions from qualitative expe-

riments can reach a level of generalisation which compares to the results which probabilistic

reasoning can provide from similarly small samples (Ragin 1987). In this research project, the

likelihood that the structuring force of the state will appear as a prominent influence has been

maximized by the fact that migrants: had crossed a threshold of inequality; had come from

diverse nation-states and cultures; and, were migrating in both directions across this national

gradient. Should the class position of the transnationally skilled migrants prove to be similar

or, looked at from a different angle, should we not find unexpected exceptions we would have

a strong argument for an emergent transnational class (Weiß 2006a).

3. Findings

We have focused on migrants who are employed in the highly skilled sector in host countries

in spite of them having migrated across a threshold of inequality. This selection should place

them in transnational labor markets. Despite this general similarity there is also reason to as-

sume that they may be differently placed in these globalizing labor markets. World systems

theory (Hoffmann-Nowotny 1970, Wallerstein 1979, Potts 1988) as well as methodologically

(inter-)nationalist approaches to social inequality (Lemel and Noll 2002) would assume that

highly skilled migrants should be unequally ranked in their access to and position in labor

markets (OECD 2007), according to whether they come from a rich or poor country. We may

add that them being conceived of as belonging to a rich or poor country, a status-high or a

10

symbolically devaluated group, may also influence their labor market position (Bauder 2006,

Weiß 2006c).

We will now look at the kind of the cultural capital that our interviewees bring into potential

labor markets and at the structure of the labor markets in which they participate. Both aspects

are interconnected as the selectivity of migration responds to labor market demand and as the

value of cultural capital depends on recognition (3.1). In order to avoid prematurely affirming

our hypothesis we are devoting particular attention to differences between the three groups in

access to and barriers against entering labor markets (3.2). Even if the hypothesis of transna-

tional class formation were true, we would not expect the three groups to be perfectly identic-

al in their labor market position. On the basis of the empirical results in both sub-chapters we

want to weigh indicators for and arguments against our initial assumption (3.3).

3.1. Cultural capital and transnational labor markets

A description of our interviewees’ cultural capital and the labor markets in which they were

active can be gained from their biographical narrations. They usually describe their educa-

tional titles and the achievement associated with them and they give details on their profes-

sional careers. We will first analyze cultural capital and the structure of relevant labor markets

and then go on to shed light on their interconnection.

3.1.1 Cultural Capital

Looking for highly skilled migrants who were successful despite having migrated across a

threshold of inequality resulted in a highly selective sample. Both the IT-professionals and the

academics have been excellent students who tended to be at the top of their class not only in

secondary education, but also in university. On the other hand, though the expatriates do have

high educational degrees, they were not surpassing others to the same extent during education

as many migrants from developing and transformation societies. This difference can be inter-

preted as a result of core-periphery hierarchies. The academics and some of the IT-

professionals depended on scholarships for their education whereas the expatriates had access

to free university education. Accordingly the academics and the IT-professionals underwent

more stringent selective processes to access higher education and they could not always

choose the field in which they wanted to major.

While the selectivity of educational trajectories is different between the three groups, all of

the respondents have in the end reached a high or very high educational degree: Among the

eleven IT-professionals two hold a Ph.D., seven hold a diploma or masters and only two have

11

a bachelor’s degree.3 Among the seven expatriates one is holding a Ph.D., two completed sev-

eral masters/diploma degrees, two hold a master or diploma and two have completed a uni-

versity for applied sciences, which compares to a bachelor. Among the ten academics three

are professors and one was an associate professor who had to accept a lower rank in order to

migrate to South Africa, eight of them hold Ph.D.s, and one a masters.

3.1.2 Potential labor markets

In the descriptions of our interviewees’ job search strategies four different types of (potential)

labor markets can be distinguished: Those who work for (1) global players4 in the core states

are well off independent of their location; the income and chances of migrants working for

global players in core states—mostly the IT-professionals—compare to that of sedentary pro-

fessionals there (Weiß 2006b). Persons who work for (2) global players and development

agencies employing in the periphery may make more money in absolute terms as a result of

the lower cost of living and the tax breaks involved, but they suffer disadvantages in the life

style and career options available to them at their current location (Weiß 2006b). The third

and fourth labor market that appeared in our interviewee’s descriptions offer much lower pay

and privileges even though a similar level of skills is expected for the positions which our

interviewees occupy: Local employers in the (semi-) periphery (3) can rarely afford the wages

paid by global players. (Self-) employment in a local business community as well in govern-

ment service (4) is mentioned as economically attractive in some semi-peripheral countries

and regions, but this labor market is difficult to access for migrants as a result of migration

regulation.

From a description of these labor markets it might appear that the academics are placed lower

in centre-periphery hierarchies. Several considerations contradict this assumption, however:

All of the transnationally skilled migrants in this study did have access to employment by

global players at least once during their career. As the academics chose to work in African—

and eventually South African—universities, we must assume that their position there is not

significantly worse than it would be in alternative labor markets. This view is supported by a

closer look at their economic position: Though they complain about a lack of privileges of-

fered by their employers, their descriptions show that they clearly enjoy a comfortable middle

class lifestyle.

3.1.3 Migration responds to labor market demand

The move of the academics from centre labor markets to employment by local employers in

the periphery can also be explained by the contents of their education. Among the ten aca-

12

demics seven hold degrees in agriculture and related subjects, which are relevant for devel-

opment and thus result in fairly attractive labor market options in their region of origin. Since

most of the academics did plan to return to Africa for personal reasons, we may assume that

they chose a major, for which attractive labor markets for the highly skilled exist even in de-

veloping countries.

As the value of cultural capital depends on its recognition transnationally skilled migrants

seek to make their personal interests and labor market opportunities compatible. Several IT-

professionals point out that they could easily find employment in their home country, but not

in their desired field of research and development. Therefore they migrated. This is not specif-

ic to migrants from the periphery. A German textile engineer in our sample also knew when

she chose her major that she would have to migrate as textile production and textile compa-

nies have moved from Germany to Asian countries.

Depending on their area of expertise migrants with different specialties are found in differing

locations around the globe. These differences are clearly related to a global division of labor

mirrored by migration policies of nation states that open their borders selectively for wanted

experts (Wilmot 1997). Yet, for the transnationally skilled migrants the global division of

labor does not translate into a division between high and low skilled jobs but between areas of

expertise.

In sum, the selectivity in the content of expertise is the only point where the groups differ

systematically. Otherwise we could (a) observe a high degree of versatile and transnationally

valued cultural capital in all the three groups. As the migrants could (b) choose at least once

in their career whether they wanted to remain in wealthy countries or stay in or return to

(semi-)peripheral ones and as all of them enjoy a middle class life style the four labor markets

that we distinguished in section 3.1.2 are at least interconnected. Against this background of

similarities we will now take a closer look at barriers in labor market access which seem to be

specific for the three groups compared. Only after an in-depth analysis of differences will it

be possible to properly assess the hypothesis of transnational class formation.

3.2 Barriers to Access to Transnational Labor Markets

Theories of the labor market offer a variety of explanations for unequal labor market access.

Economic theory predicts differences relating to the functionality of human capital (Becker

1993, Friedberg 2000) – a concept which has been taken up and reformulated as cultural capi-

tal in Bourdieu’s (1986) class theory. Institutionalist approaches observe segmentation be-

tween insider and outsider labor markets (Doeringer and Piore 1971, Sengenberger 1987).

13

Also closure theory predicts that the privileged monopolize their achievements by discrimina-

tion (Parkin 1979, Feagin and Feagin 1986). All of these mechanisms were observed in our

sample, but they apply in a different manner and degree to each of the compared groups.

3.2.1 Relevance, portability and recognition of cultural capital

Even though the highly skilled migrants have been selected for this study because they own a

large amount of transnationally recognized cultural capital, some differences in the recogni-

tion and relevance of their cultural capital can be found. Firstly, we can find implicit evidence

of a need to translate the value of their cultural capital by quantifying it in the narrations of

the IT-professionals and the academics. For example one IT-professional mentions that he

graduated in the top two percent of his class in India, and an academic mentions that he pub-

lished more than 42 quality papers within a specified period. To some extent that reflects

practice in science and Anglo-Saxon academia, but we also have one case of an expatriate

who completed an MBA later in life. He refrains from quantification and just mentions that

his MBA was a transfer of the Harvard MBA to a Chinese setting. Graduates of famous edu-

cational institutions in core countries need not give numbers to quantify their credentials whe-

reas those in the (semi-) periphery must translate their cultural capital.

A second difference concerns the relevance of those aspects of cultural capital that are closely

connected to a national and language heritage, and that are therefore not always easy to trans-

port. Location-specific cultural capital (Weiß 2005) is not decisive for the labor market posi-

tion of the transnationally skilled migrants in our sample, but the ways in which it is com-

bined with their transnationally recognized cultural capital differ between the groups. The

expatriates are hired, because for example the textile engineer can ensure that production re-

sults will adhere to German consumers’ expectations of quality. An engineer in medical tech-

nology sells “German quality” products in the world. While the core of expatriates’ cultural

capital (their engineering, managerial and other skills) is valued worldwide other skills are

valued because they are perceived to be location specific with respect to an economically

strong state.

In contrast to the expatriates capitalizing on some location-specific capital the IT-

professionals insist that their qualification is transnational in character. Only those who come

from newly industrializing countries treat location-specific cultural capital as an added advan-

tage and they emphasize that this advantage does not diminish their core competence. A Chi-

nese who majors in business and will work in Germany emphasizes that she would not accept

a job offer to become a general manager in China. “You are the queen or the king, but it is

14

rather small and you are really not so international. (…) For my intellectual development or

personal development it is not necessarily positive. And for me it also is too early” (translated

from the German original). The location specific capital of the IT-professionals is an ambi-

guous resource as they want to avoid being reduced to specialists for a (semi-)peripheral

country.

A third difference can be detected, when a lack of location specific cultural capital impacts on

chances for promotion. IT-professionals as well as academics mention that skills specific to

the location of their current employment will be necessary if they want to move up in their

careers abroad. Some IT-professionals seem to be convinced that German language skills are

very important for managers in a German IT-company or for direct service to customers.5

Other interviewees see language skills as a cover for anti-migrant closure. In South Africa one

academic mentions that the higher echelons in his university communicate in Afrikaans in-

stead of English and that his reluctance to learn the language of apartheid would eventually be

a barrier to his promotion into the “top brass” of the university.

With respect to the cultural capital of the interviewees section 3.1.1 has shown that it is gen-

erally very high. Against this background we can now identify some differences relevant for

class position: For the expatriates location specific cultural capital is “core country” capital

and considered to be a resource everywhere. In contrast to this IT-professionals and academ-

ics can sometimes use location specific cultural capital as an add-on, but they must make sure

that it is not detrimental to their career and they must translate it. Those who want to stay

abroad feel that it may be difficult to acquire the location specific capital of their destination

country and that this may impact negatively on their careers.

3.2.2 Social capital

Segmentation of labor markets cannot be researched well on the basis of a relatively small

number of qualitative interviews. We can however take a closer look at one aspect of labor

market segmentation, namely difficulties which ethnic or other outsiders may experience in

accessing segmented labor markets. An analysis of social networks (Granovetter 1973, Portes

and Sensenbrenner 1993) or in Bourdieu’s terms „social capital“ should show whether some

groups of persons hold connections more favorable to labor market access than others.

Our study shows the relevance of social capital for entry into organizations and for subse-

quent moves in the hierarchy. As far as entry is concerned no differences between the three

groups could be found: Professional networks which were acquired in the course of higher

education and first employments were central for most interviewees. In two cases professors

directly recommended their Ph.D. student for a high position in an international agency and a

15

global corporation respectively. Sometimes scholarships and internships paved the way. In a

few cases parents of the employee had been working with their future employer, which im-

proved their chances of access. Ethnic networks were not relevant.

Once a position has been entered, contact and comfort with colleagues do play a certain role

for a rise to the top. This is no problem for those who work in multicultural organizations in

which the professional networks are transnational at least on the level which is occupied by

the interviewees. The IT-professionals often have professional networks of this kind. In other

cases the work organization tends to be mono-cultural. This is especially prevalent for the

expatriates whose organizations export German “quality” or “development” abroad. Working

in a clearly German organization, but at a long distance from the centre of that organization

has a negative effect on the expatriates’ career. Mr. Maier6 has risen exceptionally quickly

into a headquarter manager for more than a dozen Asian countries. Nevertheless, returning to

Germany he is told that “German” managers need to have in-depth knowledge of few fields

whereas his qualification is too broad for the core of the organization.

A detrimental impact of closed social circles on the social capital of our interviewees is also

found for the academics, who enter a previously “whites only” work environment.

T: I told you my work environment is eeeh, the lecturers are, it is actually a white en-vironment. And eeeh every 10:30 tea, 3 o’clock tea—that’s not my style. (Both laugh). S: So you don’t go for tea? T: Unless I have to, I don’t. People will talk about the dog, and the sick cat, and the this thing … whereas with the migrant group, we have common things to talk about we talk about home, we talk about family back home … […] Our situations are the same, may be, eeeh somebody will be advising you about how promotions are done here which eeeh you won’t get from that tea room and things like that. […] To give you one example: One day I was in the tea room and then eeeh there was this white girl who came in late. In my local context, I said: “Oh, you are welcome. There is still a lot of food, you can eat it all if you want, it is all for you. In our context, one would say: “Oh, yes, thanks, the fewer, the merrier. If you go, I will finish everything,” and it will be a joke and we shall all laugh over it. But for this white girl, when I said that, she smiled and then said: “That is not funny.” So there are cultural differences about which we have to be careful and therefore being aware of these cultural differences I haven’t had much incentive to interact with them […] So I would rather interact with those persons who will tell me where to get my eeeh next eeeh exotic eeeh cow head, where to get it to be chopped—that is a delicacy, and I will not get that kind of infor-mation in the tea room with the white people.

Judging from our interviews, South Africa is still riddled by social and cultural closure not

only in academia, but also in church and the housing market. As the quotation shows this kind

of social distance also has a negative impact on career development. Dr Moto mentions that

information about “how promotions are done here” will not be given to him in the tea room,

16

but by other migrants. We may safely assume that tea rooms in universities could offer infor-

mation relevant for furthering careers, but in this case not to racially constructed outsiders.

With respect to the impact of social capital we can summarize that our interviewees found

jobs on the basis of their qualification and with the help of the professional contacts they

gained in the course of that. This again supports our assumption of transnational class forma-

tion. Difficulties arise with the promotion to higher positions and here some systematic differ-

ences between the compared groups are found: Being away from headquarters results in the

expatriates lacking certain skills and contacts necessary there. The academics also find that

social interaction which would be relevant for their career is difficult as interests and cultural

conventions diverge.

3.2.3 Racism and discrimination

One of the results of a global mobility regime (Shamir 2005) is the discrimination against

non-nationals which often is generalized to racial discrimination (Weiß 2006c, 2010). All of

the three groups in our study are subjected to direct institutionalized discrimination (Feagin

and Feagin 1986) in the form of migration legislation. The academics cannot move to the bet-

ter paid government jobs as long as they are on ‘work permit’. The visa duration for the IT-

professionals did not exceed 5 years at the time and some felt that this restriction has barred

their employers from investing in them. Other forms of discrimination work in a more indirect

manner. Expatriates and IT-professionals encountered problems when their spouses were

looking for work. Visa regulations which keep spouses from working result in a loss of in-

come for the family. In the German system social security payments are compulsory, so that

IT-professionals whose duration of stay was restricted still were expected to contribute to

non-transferable insurances covering old age and disablement.

Clearly, migration legislation acts along centre-periphery hierarchies and it puts even those at

a disadvantage who are wanted experts and generally enjoy easy access. Nevertheless most of

the interviewees did not feel that this constituted a severe disadvantage for their labor market

position. Against this background of (indirect) institutional discrimination which affects all

foreigners, racism against persons of visibly African descent offers a sharp contrast both in

South Africa and – as far as we can know – in Europe. Apart from the above mentioned social

segregation the academics describe differential treatment on an interpersonal and institutional

level as prevalent in South African universities. Dr Wame for example starts with a polite

answer when asked about his career perspectives:

17

W: You know, this, here, in this university, and I mean I am pleased to say that, there are, … I’m seeing changes in the institution that things are becoming more and more transparent and procedures are also becoming more, much clearer. Yea. Yea I mean but, if you read the policies, they sound very much clearer than you would imagine and very pleasing, but the implementation of it is very different S: Very different? W: Yea which is a sad thing. Yea, eem I am not trying to cry, yes I am not eeeh yet at a higher level, but the truth is, I feel I am one of those that have been victimized by the institution for no apparent reason, because here, in this university, I am very con-vinced there are lots and lots and lots of people who are either in the Associate Profes-sor level or even full Professor level with less than 20 publications in peer-reviewed journals as is, I mean, that eeeh if you see, peer-reviewed journals S: peer-reviewed journals W: Yes. Yet some of us Black people here with close to sixty in the same quality jour-nals and we are not up to anything. S: That is strange. How could that happen? W: It is sickening S: Are the criteria not very clear? W: That is why I said it sounds very clear when you read it, but the implementation of it is all based on who knows whom. S: Oh, I see, that is quite unfortunate. W: Yea, I think. So one can say ‘Yes, you could easily become all those things [ranks above his current level of senior lecturer, added by authors], but it also would happen that you would easily become none of the above.

Dr Wame also mentions that he has published “well over 42 publications, new ones, since I

got here”. While his institution receives 5.000 Rand (about Euro 700) per publication from the

government, he has never been offered a promotion or any other bonus in the course of eight

years. Other interviewees mention in the interviews that they have heard about racial barriers

to promotion, but hope this will not apply to them.

It comes as no surprise that South African institutions still struggle with a legacy of racism.

As we did not research racism systematically we do not have sufficient information on the

labor market position of black transnationally skilled migrants in Europe.7 Nevertheless we

can see some evidence of racial bias in European labor markets. One academic decided to

return to Africa because in the United Kingdom he would only have been able to get unskilled

jobs. Interestingly enough, this is the academic with an IT masters acquired in Britain who is

now a professor in a prestigious South African university. A financial expert migrated from

an African country to Germany and did his Ph.D. in a very elite circle in Germany. This

paved his way for a top job with a global player. Nevertheless he compares his own career

unfavorably with that of all of his fellow Ph.D. students who now are members of a board of

directors. In a long and careful introduction similar to Dr Wame’s explanations above, Dr

Amarke argues that CEOs have to play many roles, that beside the “quality of the person”

18

social representation of the company is important. He explains that he himself did not focus

enough on politics and publicity and that he realized too late, that that would have been im-

portant. Only at the end of this statement does he summarize: Maybe “the company […] in

the meantime we have managers and vice-presidents, who are Americans, who are French and

in some time perhaps they can [….] a Black. If he is good enough” (translated from the Ger-

man original). So Dr Amarke first explains his failure to become a member of a board of di-

rectors with his dislike for politics, and then says that a black might conceivably be an execu-

tive in the future and adds “if he is good enough”. Considering that the academics who re-

turned to Africa usually mention personal reasons for their return, that they stress the options

they had in the north, but that these options did not come about even when they were recom-

mended, we can assume that racism is a restriction in EU labor markets at least for transna-

tionally skilled blacks.

In sum, since we selected migrants whose cultural capital is recognized transnationally, it

comes as no surprise that neither formal nor informal discrimination impacts strongly on their

labor market position even though we have learned that discrimination in social interaction is

a concern. Against this background, two qualifying statements must be made: Migration law

is restrictive for all of the observed groups, but these restrictions appear minor to our sample.

Also, there is evidence that black transnationally skilled migrants continue to experience ra-

cial discrimination not only in South Africa but also in European labor markets.

3.3 Do the findings support the hypothesis of transnational class

formation?

We have analyzed the class position of three groups of transnationally skilled migrants whose

cultural capital is well recognized in spite of differences in the direction in which they passed

a threshold of social inequality and of coming from a diverse range of national origins. Our

analysis is not comprehensive but focuses on labor market position, as labor markets both

respond to a globalizing economy and are controlled by nation states. We have analyzed some

objective aspects of labor market inclusion such as degree and quality of cultural capital and

position in labor market(s) and we also take a look at class habitus when interpreting nuances

of portraying one’s cultural capital. Those aspects of social capital which could be seen as

signs of objective class position, such as labor market segmentation or discrimination along

the lines of centre-periphery hierarchies were of interest, too. By designing a sample with

strong contrasts we wanted to assess whether the theoretical assumption of a transnational

class formation is empirically plausible for highly skilled migrants. For a select sample of

19

highly skilled migrants whose cultural capital is recognized in transnational labor markets our

analysis has highlighted differences which may be found despite a high degree of conver-

gence as these differences could hint at the continued relevance of a nation-state centered

class analysis.

Systematic differences between the three groups were found in their area of expertise which

clearly responds to a global division of labor in the highly skilled sector. This selectivity does

not result in a general division along the lines of “more qualified” in the centre and “less qual-

ified” in the periphery. It can however result in a less favorable labor market position when

personal preference and/or content of expertise points toward employment by local employers

in the periphery. Local employers in the (semi-)periphery tend to offer fewer work related

privileges, but even those academics who were employed by local universities enjoy a com-

fortable middle class life style there.

Another systematic difference concerns barriers to promotion. Several IT-professionals feel

that language and cultural skills will be needed for a rise to a managerial position. The expa-

triates notice that—spending most of their working lives at a distance from the geographical

and social heart of their organization—they lack the social networks for a rise to the top. The

academics attribute the “glass ceiling” with good reason to explicit structural and personal

racism. Despite these differences the result is quite similar: All of the transnationally skilled

migrants feel disadvantaged compared to sedentary professionals in the country of their em-

ployer. They also emphasize that these disadvantages are minor compared to the overall re-

wards of migration.

Looking at the general picture, the similarities in the position of the three contrasted groups of

transnationally skilled migrants prevail. All of the transnationally skilled migrants possess a

high degree of institutionalized cultural capital which translates into a similar position in

transnational labor markets. They do not rise to the top, but they can reach a comfortable posi-

tion and almost all of our interviewees did have the chance to decide whether they wanted to

work for global players or for local players in the (semi-)periphery.

4. Conceptual Conclusions

Can classes still be placed in the frame of the nation state or can we develop a meaningful

concept of transnational class formation? Our exemplary empirical study shows that cultural

capital which is recognized beyond national borders and circulation in transnational labor

markets can result in a high degree of convergence with respect to several indicators for class

20

position. They do not show a complete similarity and neither do the interviewees view them-

selves as a transnational class in nascendi.8

Against this background the concept of transnational class formation can be clarified in two

respects. Firstly, we should not think of transnational class formation as being completely

“free” from the impact of the nation state system. In a heterogeneous and unequal world we

must expect selectivities which are the result of regional differentiation and core-periphery

hierarchies; people endowed with a high degree of skill and potential may be more likely to

develop into professors of agriculture in one region, and into engineers in some others. We

can meaningfully think of transnational class formation, if these differences cannot be attri-

buted to specific nation states or to a class structure which solely depends on the position of

the state of one’s origin in centre-periphery hierarchies, but they add to and differentiate a

class position which also shows strong signs of non- and transnational structuring forces. Put

more succinctly: When a German textile engineer (or a Tunisian mobile communications spe-

cialist) has to find work abroad because employment opportunities in their field of expertise

are better elsewhere, this should not be attributed to them coming from Germany or Tunisia

respectively but as an outcome of a global division of labour.

Secondly, we should take Bourdieu’s concept of homologies in social position seriously. In

his analysis of class habitus Bourdieu argues that persons can develop a habitus that is struc-

turally similar even though it may differ in concrete content. For our analysis of transnational

class formation this means that, while the barriers to promotion which we observed differ to

some extent, they are structurally similar since they are based on similar social processes and

result in a homologous social position. The barriers to promotion which the three contrast

groups experience are all connected with their migratory status. Finally, the constituents of

transnational classes may not easily constitute a class-for-itself or share an identity, but they

may recognize each other through socio-cultural homologies. Our study of transnationally

skilled migrants shows that objective classes can evolve independently of the specifics of na-

tional origin and of the position of countries of origin in centre-periphery hierarchies. In con-

trast to the transnational capitalist class these migrants are not only found in the North Atlan-

tic, but in emergent economies, too. They could form the core of transnational middle classes.

Acknowledgement

We would like to thank the German Research Association for generously funding the research project "Highly skilled migrants: the transnationalisation of social inequality" (2002 to 2005) and the conference contribution to the ISA conference in Durban 2006 for which this paper was prepared. Michael Fischer, Magdalena Nowicka, Oliver Schmidtke and anonymous re-viewers of the journal “Global Networks” have provided helpful comments.

21

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1 See Weiß (2006b) for a discussion of the economic capital of the IT-professionals and the expatriates and Weiß (2005) for their cultural capital. 2 For more information on the empirical design see Weiß (2006a). 3 Note that these numbers are not representative of the respective groups, because we did not draw random sam-ples. They serve to describe the groups and thereby give the reader an impression of the high degree of cultural capital that these interviews offer to employers. 4 There were exceptions of IT-professionals employed in local medium sized companies, but they did not perce-ive this as a relevant labor market. 5 Findings from a large scale comparative project on highly skilled migration show that managers have to learn the local codes of labor – including language – in three very different countries, namely Germany, Turkey and Canada which suggests a functional necessity in this professional field (Nohl 2008). 6 All names are changed. 7 Official statistics in Europe rarely measure race, but country of origin, but Essed (1991) supports our findings.

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8 A student in our project,Theresa Hunger, has conducted an in-depth study about identities based on some of the interviews portrayed in this article.