https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2588-053X
![Sample our Urban Studies journals, sign in here to start your FREE access for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/110826/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Urban-Studies.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
This study examines the relationship between social capital and community development as well as the interaction mechanism between different types of social capital in community development in a Korean-Chinese enclave in Seoul, Korea. For empirical analysis, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 20 community members in Daerim 2-dong, the largest Korean-Chinese enclave in Korea. The empirical analysis shows that as an input of community development, bonding, bridging, and linking capital all led to the improvement of both social and physical community environments. Furthermore, community development activities increase social capital by facilitating contact and interaction among community members. Additionally, bonding capital among the Korean Chinese was found to be a critical factor for developing bridging and linking capital in the community development process. These results suggest a two-way association between social capital and community development. Based on these findings, this study suggests that greater attention should be paid to the two-way association to promote a reciprocal relationship between social capital and community development in ethnically diverse communities. Moreover, the usefulness of bonding capital among migrants should be considered in community development.
Acknowledgement
I would like to thank the interviewees and Hyun Jeong for assistance in preparing the qualitative data.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1 Dong is the smallest administrative unit in an urban area in Korea; each has its own office and staff. The City of Seoul contains 25 districts, and each district is divided into several dongs. As of 2020, there were 425 dongs and 23,320 persons per dong on average in the City of Seoul (https://data.seoul.go.kr/dataList/10043/S/2/datasetView.do). Daerim 2-dong is one of the 18 dongs located in Yeongdeungpo District.
2 Korean emigration to China began in the late 19th century in the search for food and shelter, and accelerated as Koreans sought to escape from Japanese-occupied Korea in the early 20th century (M.-J. Jun, Ha, & Jeong, Citation2013). The colonial Japanese government also forced Korean farmers to move to China to supply factory laborers in the 1930s, which sparked another wave of Korean emigration to China (Kim, Citation2010). Korean Chinese immigration to Korea began in the early 1990s after diplomatic relations were established between Korea and China under the pressure of economic hardship in the northeastern regions of China where the majority of Korean Chinese used to live (M.-J. Jun et al., Citation2013). Another major force behind Korean Chinese immigration was the 2007 visa reform, which allows ethnic Koreans from China and the former Soviet Union to visit their families and work in Korea. While migrant workers holding an E-9 (Non-professional employment) visa need to return to their country of origin after working for five years, ethnic Koreans holding an H-2 (Working-visit) visa can obtain permanent residency relatively easily.
3 Korea runs a garbage disposal system that requires households to purchase certain types of garbage bags, whose prices include the fees for the collection and disposal of garbage.
4 Given that naturalized Korean Chinese are not counted as Korean Chinese in the census, it can be inferred that Korean Chinese account for about 60% of the total Daerim 2-dong population based on the interviews with residents in Daerim 2-dong and public officials in 2017.
5 The following website contains the plan to revitalize the Daerim Central Market: https://www.open.go.kr/othicInfo/infoList/infoListDetlSeoul.do?prdnNstRgstNo=00000171880371127200&prdnDt=20170711151941.