Migration and Social Remittances: Different Lenses from Social Sciences

Migration is often viewed through an economic lens, but it also drives a profound transfer of intangible resources, including ideas, attitudes, beliefs, practices, values, and norms. This review examines the emerging literature on social remittances across post-transition economies. These countries are characterized by their shift from socialist planning to market-oriented systems. Based on an analysis of twenty-six publications, this literature review examines the mechanisms through which intangible resources are acquired, transferred, and implemented among migrants, their communities of origin, and even their destination societies. The evidence reveals that migrants often act as agents of change, transferring knowledge and practices that influence areas from entrepreneurship and politics to science, gender norms, and everyday life. Future research should analyze the social networks, structural constraints, and digital tools that facilitate these knowledge transfers across the skill spectrum. Such work is important for developing holistic policies that can leverage the social remittances of diverse migrant groups as a sustained resource for social innovation and development in evolving economies.