Friendship after migration: The experiences of skilled migrants to Australia

Abstract

Friendship is an important social relation that offers emotional support in a range of ways and at different life stages. When individuals migrate they necessarily leave their existing friends behind, and need to find new ones. As the numbers of migrants to Australia increases, it is important to understand the emotional consequences of migration on their friendships. This study explores two key areas of friendship after migration. The first area is the process of acquainting and maintaining new friendships after arriving in Australia. The contexts that participants made friends are discussed, along with barriers to friendship such as language issues, or cultural misunderstandings. The second area of investigation is how participants managed to maintain old friendships with people outside Australia over time and geographic distance. The strategies that participants used to stay in touch with old friends, such as using new communication technologies and making home visits are outlined. This study draws on findings from semi-structured interviews and data gathered from a friendship map. The sample was comprised of skilled or professional migrants from different countries. The commonality of these participants was their experience of friendship rupture following migration. Drawing on a range of concepts, but with Goffman’s ideas of micro-sociology as a foundation, the findings of this research contribute to the scholarship of the sociology of friendship. In summary, it was found that migration impacts on friendships in various ways. Moving to a new country can have an emotional cost, because old friends are left behind and it takes time to find new ones who can fulfil these quality relationships, meaning the period immediately following migration can be a lonely one. Further, the migrant is in a position of relative social inequality in comparison to locals, who already have their friends around them. Participants often still felt emotionally close to old friends, even though their friendships were inactive. However, as time passed and life circumstances changed, it became harder to maintain these links over time and distance.