Las Palancas: The Structure and Functions of Social Connections for Undocumented Latinos

• In Event: 4255 - Section on Economic Sociology Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 11. Race and Ethnicity

Abstract

How undocumented Latino immigrants navigate their economic lives is partly structured by las palancas – levers, people who function as points of influence. A simple human technological innovation, la palanca, the lever, functions to allow one to lift and move something beyond one’s weight. Like a heavy weight, lack of authorized immigration status restricts mobility by denying access to tools necessary to navigate life (work authorization, identification, driver’s licenses, etc.) and limiting work to options often precarious and undercompensated. Las palancas, then, become essential. How do social connections connect people to resources? Using a structured process with 49 interviews of undocumented Latinos in a Southern city, I coded every mention of a palanca, someone who connects, or is expected to connect, the household to a resource or another person and weighted the relationship strength (1=immediate family, 8=person from hometown). I investigated patterns in usage by categorizing each in terms relationship level and type of resource or resource-generating activity obtained or provided. I then examined the number of households who mobilized each type counting each household once per each type to focus on differences in how palancas connect to resources rather than frequencies of usage. Examining the patterns provides insight into the relationship between resources and social connections. Central to this structure is the family, key to migration resources and the most common resource sharing strategies: co-housing, cash loans and childcare. Friends and neighbors are key to locating fundamental resources like work and housing. Employers are a unique palanca central to the provision of resources, but contextualized by a particular power dynamic. Though not all palancas have reciprocal functions, ideas of reciprocity are woven throughout. Activities provide support that functions along rationale of economies of scale to play a pivotal role fundamental to navigating the specific practices of survival for undocumented Latinos.

Author

• Jennifer Scott, Louisiana State University - Baton Rouge Campus