Remittances and Lifestyle Changes Among Indonesian Overseas Migrant Workers’ Families in Their Hometowns
Siti Mas’udah ()
Additional contact information
Siti Mas’udah: Universitas Airlangga
Journal of International Migration and Integration, 2020, vol. 21, issue 2, No 17, 649-665
Abstract:
Abstract Remittances sent by migrant workers represent one of the largest cash flow into developing countries. This study examines the relationship between remittances and the changing lifestyles among Indonesian overseas workers’ families in their hometowns. Using descriptive research methods, I interviewed 53 relatives of migrants in Indonesia. The results revealed that remittances from migrant workers strongly influenced their family’s lives in their hometowns. As the family’s financial situation improved, their living paradigm also changed in various ways. However, there was a contradiction between the typical worker’s motive, which was to fulfill basic needs in his hometown, and the consumer lifestyle they practiced as reflected in their buying of various items for the exchange value rather than the use value. Thus, the money they earned during their overseas employment was not systematically allocated as long-term productive asset. Instead, they mostly spent the money to achieve symbolic status while showing off their success as overseas migrant workers through engagement in the consumer culture. The behavior and lifestyle of families also changed when one member became a migrant worker. Before having a migrant worker as a family member, a family may live in poverty. When the migrant worker comes home from abroad, the whole family’s lifestyle becomes more consumption-oriented and glamorous. Families of migrant workers, even those in rural areas, are familiar with online shopping, various beauty and cosmetic products, health products, and other consumables. Thus, online sellers often benefit from the consumer behavior of migrant workers.
Keywords: Remittance; Lifestyle; International migration in Asia; Migrant; Indonesian overseas migrant worker (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:
Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s12134-019-00676-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.
Export reference: BibTeX
RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan)
HTML/Text
Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:joimai:v:21:y:2020:i:2:d:10.1007_s12134-019-00676-x
Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.springer ... tudies/journal/12134
DOI: 10.1007/s12134-019-00676-x
Access Statistics for this article
Journal of International Migration and Integration is currently edited by Lori Wilkinson
More articles in Journal of International Migration and Integration from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().