Leisy Abrego's Double Movement Analysis

The double movement concept can be difficult to understand within the new global economy because most consider markets and social life to be separate, but they are not. As Polanyi explains, “[Individuals do] not act so as to safeguard [their] individual interest in the possession of material goods; [they] acts so as to safeguard [their] social standing, [their] social claims, [their] social assets.” (Polanyi [year]:48) To understand how this affects the everyday individual, one must consider that which is considered most valuable to the individual's social ties – family. Although the Western ideal is one of selfishness for the sake of sustainability and investment, family and capital are often deeply interlocked, as both provide stability
Though we often hear of these instances through Mexican workers in the United States, and through Filipino housekeepers globally, there are other instances of this within Leisy Abrego's discussion on Salvadorean families and transnationalism. As Abrego states, it is often the female family members (usually mothers) who are most wanted for overseas labour, however “It is estimated that 4 out of every 10 children in El Salvador grows up without one or both parents because of migration” (Abrego [year]:1072). These remittances, though effective for providing financial stability within the home overseas, create deeply conflicting ideals of what it means to be a parent, and what it means to have a parent, as both the child and parent(s) create different realities for one another at the cost of acquiring capital. The results of Abrego's study of Salvadorean families concluded that “on average fathers had been apart from their children 12 years compared to mothers’ 10 years.” (1075) Within this time frame, these parents create new, less conventional families overseas, specifically single mothers who are often employed by individuals with children (1076) and the children they leave behind often have to find other places to get emotional support, such as grandparents and aunts (1078). Within this sacrifice, children get the blunt of the unbalanced deal; although there are pro's such as school and financial gains, Abrego also admits that most families had unstable remittances, while others lost their emotional ties to each other such as those who found new spouses overseas