Max Weber Revisited, the Verstehen of Migration through Qualitative Research

• Published in: Migraciones internacionales Vol. 9; no. 1; pp. 43 - 67
• Main Author: Bustamante, Jorge A
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Tijuana Colegio de Frontera Norte, Publicataions Department 01.01.2017
• Subjects: Immigration policy; Labor migration; Merchants; Mexican Americans; Migrant workers; Qualitative research; Research design; Social relations; Undocumented immigrants; Verstehen; Vulnerability; Weber, Max (1864-1920)
• ISSN: 1665-8906

This article begins with a reinterpretation of two basic concepts (Gemeinten Sinn and Verstehen) in Weber's theory of social relations. It defines international immigration as a social labor relation, characterized by an asymmetry of power between the principal actors, namely, migrant workers and their employers. It refers to Ernesto Galarza's book entitled Merchants of Labor: The Mexican Bracero Story. It proposes the use of a participant observation method in which the author poses as an undocumented/unauthorized Mexican immigrant, that is, as a subject in his own research. This research design corresponds to a qualitative approach not aimed at an empirical "test of hypotheses" but instead focused on a "deep understanding"-or what Max Weber understood by his methodological concept of Verstehen-of social phenomena. A reference to an encounter with a fellow inmate in a detention center led to an empirical foundation for the concept of vulnerability used in further explaining and measuring migrations.