Language, Migration and Social Mobility in Catalonia

Alarcon (sociology, U. Rovira I Virgili, Spain) and Garzon (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Latin America, U. Catholique de Louvain, Belgium) present results from a research project investigating links between language and processes of social mobility among second-generation migrants from Argentina, Colombia, and Morocco to the autonomous region of Catalonia, Spain, where Catalan (the historical language of the region) and Spanish serve as dual official languages and most citizens are bilingual. The research tested the hypothesis that knowledge of Catalan among migrants and their children has a positive effect on social mobility through a feedback process where proficiency in Catalan provides instrumental value in the process of integration and this instrumental value influences the prestige and adherence to the language and society of Catalan. The analysis is conducted primarily through qualitative case studies of migrant family biographies. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Amado Alarcon (PhD Sociology, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 2002) is Associate Profesor of Sociology at Universitat Rovira i Virgili (Tarragona, Spain). He has published widely in the field of sociology of migration, sociology of work and enterprise and sociolinguistics.Luis Garzon (PhD Sociology, Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, 2006) is currently Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the GRIAL (Interdisciplinary Research Group on Latin America) at the Universite Catholique de Louvain, Belgium. He has published several papers on the labour market insertion of Latin American migrants.