“In the Hood and on the Job”: Social Capital Accumulation among Legal and Unauthorized Mexican Immigrants

Abstract

Social capital research rarely separates interpersonal networks of reciprocity from trust (a characteristic of some relationships) or civic group participation and has generally ignored Portes's call to investigate determinants, rather than effects, of social capital. Employing data from a survey of randomly selected households of Mexican immigrants, the authors estimate how individual characteristics (including legal status and participation in civic groups) and various neighborhood-level socioeconomic factors influenced the probability of having had social capital-defined parsimoniously as having helped (or having been helped by) someone within one's family or friendship network when in need.Results suggest that higher educated, employed males residing in more densely populated neighborhoods with higher levels of homeownership were more likely to have engaged in such reciprocal exchange. Surprisingly, those who attended at least one labor union meeting during the previous year were less likely. Participation in other civic groups and unauthorized residency status appear to have had no effect.

Social Capital Accumulation among Puerto Rican Mothers in Urban Neighborhoods

“…Increased isolation of Latinos in segregated neighborhoods could thus be associated with a decline in bridging social capital. In contrast, both increased levels of neighborhood homeownership and population density in Latino neighborhoods have been found to be positively associated with SKA [3]. These neighborhoods provided abundant opportunities for developing strong ties necessary for bonding social capital to be accumulated.…”

“…Both strong ties (e.g., relatives and close relationships) and weak ties (e.g., acquaintances or friends of a friend) provide valued resources for SKA. Weak ties are crucial for bridging resources outside of one's neighborhood [3,20]. In fact, the strength of weak ties, as developed by Granovetter (1973) in his influential paper, depends on these relationships' ability to provide access to new information [21].…”

“…Social capital was positively correlated with employment and financial capital, which provided important labor market information to Puerto Rican women that they used to acquire higher-paying jobs [29]. However, compared to Mexican men, employed Mexican women were less likely to accumulate social capital [3].…”

“…Of this sample, three mothers did not provide complete social network information, and these observations were dropped from this analysis. Similar to previous research, the dependent variable social capital was generated through two questions addressing social network reciprocity [3,20]. A mother was prompted to identify up to five people she had spoken with regarding problems over the last year, and these people were considered to be her identified social network.…”

“…The effects of poverty on Puerto Rican social capital have been studied [2], but a gap in the literature exists as to how Puerto Ricans accumulate social capital. Other research has identified that Mexicans, the largest Latino population in the United States, accumulate social capital through their employment and from living in neighborhoods with increased homeownership [3]. Increased residential segregation, especially in cities with a newly arriving population, could weaken the mechanisms through which social capital is accumulated [4].…”