Double Belonging: Labor Mobility and the Politics of Flexibility in California

Abstract

In the academic literature, flexibility has been widely discussed as a key feature of social changes since the late twentieth century, particularly in relation to post–Fordism and neoliberalism. While many studies approach flexibility as a logic of capitalism or associate it with entrepreneurs’ strategies, this article is concerned with immigrant workers’ pursuit of flexibility. Focusing on one extended Asian immigrant family in California, it examines what enabled them to cross the Pacific and what motivated them to move continually between different industries. Emerging from their narratives is a particular notion of flexibility that centers on the sense of double belonging—belonging to both sides of the Pacific Rim and to diverse economic sectors. The kind of flexible citizenship they pursue as working class members of the world today challenges us to note emergent politics of attachment/detachment, on the one hand, and, on the other, explore possibilities of social citizenship in an era of transnationalism.