Latvian students abroad, evolving cultural capital and return intentions

Arbeitspapier | Working paper

This paper visualises tertiary-level students who study abroad as simultaneously both international students and members of an emerging diaspora. Coming from a country (Latvia) which is small, peripheral and relatively poor by European standards, students go abroad for multiple reasons not necessarily directly connected with study (eg. family reasons, labour migration); yet their evolving diasporic status is instrumentalised by the Latvian government which wants them to return and contribute to the country’s development. Based on 27 in-depth interviews with Latvian students and graduates who have studied abroad, our analysis focuses on three interlinked dimensions of inequality: access to education at home and abroad; the varying prestige of higher education qualifications from different countries and universities; and the inequalities involved in getting recognition of the symbolic and cultural capital that derives from a non-Latvian university. Within a setting of neoliberal globalisation and conflicting messages from the homeland, students and graduates are faced with a challenging dilemma: how to balance their materialistic desire for a decent job and career with their patriotic duty to return to Latvia.

Object Details

• Extent: Seite(n): 25
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Status: Veröffentlichungsversion

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: COMCAD Working Papers (142)

Classification and Topics

• Subject: Soziologie, Anthropologie ; Sozialwissenschaften, Soziologie ; Bildungs- und Erziehungssoziologie ; Migration ; Student ; Ausland ; Mobilität ; Diaspora ; Neoliberalismus ; Studium ; Kulturpolitik ; Patriotismus ; soziale Ungleichheit ; Rückwanderung ; Karriereplanung ; Migration ; Lettland

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Lulle, Aija ; Buzinska, Laura
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Universität Bielefeld, Fak. für Soziologie, Centre on Migration, Citizenship and Development (COMCAD)
• (where): Deutschland, Bielefeld
• (when): 2016

Further information

• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-50709-6
• Rights: GESIS - Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften. Bibliothek Köln
• Last update: 21.06.2024, 4:26 PM CEST