Social dividends of migrants: arguments in favour of a new concept

The paper draws from the discussion on the issue of social transfers of labour migrants, perceived as flows of ideas, behaviors, identities and social capital from recipient societies to the sending contexts. The paper introduces a new concept of “social dividends of migrants”, understanding it as an added social value of migratory experience in the form of nonmonetary remittances of migrants: social, ethical, cultural, educational, civic, esthetic, etc., used for personal development and wellbeing, but not necessarily transferred back home. The paper offers the rationale for the distinction of these two concepts using as the case in point the results of а field research on labour migration from Ukraine.