Conceptualizing International Labor Migration: A Structuration Perspective

This article applies the theory of structuration to international labor migration using case study material from the Philippines. It first provides a brief review of the functional and structural approaches to understanding labor migration and the theoretical impasse that has been created between them. It then reviews several attempts to resolve this impasse, including systems and networks approaches; these solutions are rejected on theoretical and empirical grounds. We suggest that migrant institutions may be a more appropriate mid-level concept than households or social networks to articulate various levels of analysis. We develop this concept in the context of the structuration theory of Anthony Giddens and attempt to apply this to the Philippines, concluding that this framework is eminently suited for further research on international labor migration.

Becoming an OFW: Renegotiations in Self-Concept among Filipino Factory Workers in Taiwan

This study focuses on overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in Taiwan and probes into how their migration experiences shape self construction. Data for the study came from surveys, key informant interviews, Twenty Statement Tests (TST), and observations in field studies conducted in Taiwan in 2003 and 2007. Analysis of self-concept statements on the TST showed that among women OFWs the self became more individualized and less embedded in the social roles in Taiwan than when they were in the Philippines. In contrast, the few male workers in the study registered a slight increase in their social roles. In general, OFWs found little opportunity to become integrated into Taiwanese society. In the face of exclusion in the host society, we argue that OFWs exercised social creativity, reinforcing their national identity as Filipinos and embracing the role as “modern-day heroes” of the Philippines.