COMMUNICATION CONTEXT, SOCIAL COHESION AND SOCIAL CAPITAL BUILDING AMONG HISPANIC IMMIGRANT FAMILIES

Abstract

Attention has been turned recently to the role that social capital may play in the promotion of immigration integration and social cohesion. The paper addresses an aspect of social capital that has been neglected: the application of social capital and its related concepts to minority ethnic families in impoverished neighbourhoods. This paper discusses the ways in which contextual elements in a neighbourhood may facilitate or impair the building of social capital for minority ethnic immigrant families. Research from focus group interviews conducted among Hispanic families in predominantly Hispanic neighbourhoods in Los Angeles show how residents face multiple challenges in social capital building due to physical, psychological, socio-cultural and economic constraints on their everyday family and community life. Contrary to popular conceptions that promote social capital building as the solution to social fractures caused by immigration and ethnic diversity, findings illustrate how communicative conditions experienced by minority Hispanic ethnic families may affect the constitution of their bonding, bridging and linking social capital processes. The potential impact of social capital on social cohesion will vary depending on the ways in which its effects are enhanced or diminished by the context of local neighbourhoods and the communication environ in which families are embedded.

Cet article étudie la manière dont les éléments contextuels dans un quartier peuvent faciliter ou empêcher la construction du capital social pour les familles immigrées des minorités ethniques. La recherche sur la base d'entretiens avec des groupes ciblés (focus groups) menés auprès de familles hispaniques dans des quartiers à prédominance hispanique à Los Angeles montre comment les résidents doivent faire face à de multiples défis dans la construction du capital social en raison de contraintes physiques, psychologiques, socio-culturelles et économiques sur leur vie quotidienne familiale et communautaire. Contrairement à l'idée courante qui veut promouvoir la construction du capital social comme solution aux fractures sociales dues à l'immigration et la diversité ethnique, les résultats montrent que les conditions de communication vécues par les familles minoritaires hispaniques peuvent influer sur la constitution de leur capital social (création de liens affectifs, de passerelles et d'alliances). L'impact potentiel du capital social sur la cohésion sociale varie selon la manière dont ses effets sont augmentés ou diminués par le contexte local des quartiers et l'environnement de communication auquel les familles sont intégrées.

contexte de communication, immigration, integration, minorités, communautés, capital social, familles hispaniques, cohésion sociale

Keywords:

• communication context, immigration integration, minorities, communities, social capital, Hispanic families, social cohesion

Acknowledgments

Acknowledgment is made to the Metamorphosis project, a part of an ongoing research of the Community and Technology programme, at the Annenberg School for Communication, University of Southern California. This project is directed by Professor Sandra Ball-Rokeach and is funded by the Annenberg Center for Communication and L.A. County Children and Families First (formerly Proposition 10) commission of Los Angeles.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Pauline Hope Cheong

Pauline Hope Cheong is Assistant Professor, Department of Communications, School of Informatics, State University of New York, Buffalo. In 2004 she was an ESRC (UK)/SSRC (US) Visiting Research Fellow to the Families and Social Capital Research Group at London South Bank University. She has conducted research and published on issues about new media, social stratification, and religion and communities in North America and East Asia