Social Capital and Labour Inclusion. An approximation to the trajectories of Peruvian descent migrants working in Chile

Abstract

In this article we analyze intraregional migratory flows focusing on dynamics of informal inclusion in the labor system. Drawing from 32 life histories of Peruvian migrants with an upward labor trajectory, we argue that a diminished place in the Chilean social stratification system conditions Peruvian migrants’ dependency on informal mechanisms for inclusion in the labor system. However, as a result of the regularization of their migratory status, their increased knowledge of the labor field, and the formalization of their social capital, migrants are able to deploy agential reactions towards their upward mobility in the labor market.