ABSTRACT
This chapter suggests that analytical framework through which to explore the various dimensions from an actor-perspective. It deals with a discussion of cultural approaches to inequality both from structuralism and micro-sociology and interactionism. The chapter examines the concept of social expectations as a heuristic tool for integrating the various dimensions of migration and social inequality, the sociospatial levels involved from an actor-centred perspective. Expectations provide a powerful tool through which to grasp the cultural logics of migration and inequality. In the early 1990s, the transnational lens became important in the study of migration phenomena, most prominently with the work of anthropologists Linda Basch, Nina Glick Schiller and Cristina Szanton Blanc. Social sciences face challenges in accounting for the various relational, personal, structural and cultural factors that shape trajectories of migration and settlement. Social definitions and cultural boundaries that are entailed in “culture” have performative effects because they frame options for being and behaving.
