Abstract As a person, everyone is their own sum total of all the people that they know and interact with. This may be family, friends, acquaintances or co-workers. The opportunities one has and what one can learn all come through doors that other people open for you. This is social capital. Social capital and the social integration of immigrants are two concepts which have large bodies of research, the majority of research suggests that social capital has a positive effect on the social integration of immigrants. This paper uses empirical research to fill a research gap and try and discover if the amount and type of social capital influences social integration of immigrants – specifically in a negative sense. Through evidence gathered …show more content…
Due to being from an ex-Spanish colony, Filipino immigrants can apply for Spanish citizenship after 2 years.8 A large number of Filipinos have taken advantage of this preferential status and acquired Spanish citizenship.910 The extent to which immigrant groups socially integrate into a new society has been examined by many scholars. Social integration was defined by Ferguson (2008) as “the process of promoting the values, relations and institutions that enable all people to participate in social, economic and political life on the basis of equality of rights, equity and dignity.”11 Social integration covers many different aspects including language proficiency, cultural knowledge and participation in group …show more content…
The following section will frame the arguments made in this paper. Firstly, the social capital level among Chinese and Filipino born immigrants will be theorised with the idea that Chinese immigrants tend to have high levels of social capital when the arrive in a new country, this will be compared to Filipino immigrants which will be argued also have high levels of social capital when they arrive in a new country, but that their networks are not as extensive and are viewed as conceptually different. Secondly, the theories of “bonding social capital” and “bridging social capital” will be used as a way of arguing that possessing high social capital does not necessarily lead to strong social integration and that social networks comprised primarily of people from a similar culture can reduce intercultural integration – that is, interaction with people of a different cultural background. Thirdly, the social integration of Chinese and Filipino immigrants will be conceptualised with the theory that Chinese immigrants tend to be less socially integrated than Filipino