Linguistic barriers and bridges: constructing social capital in ethnically diverse low-skill workplaces

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 937-953 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frederik Thuesen

The influence of language on social capital in low-skill and ethnically diverse workplaces has thus far received very limited attention within the sociology of work. As the ethnically diverse workplace is an important social space for the construction of social relations bridging different social groups, the sociology of work needs to develop a better understanding of the way in which linguistic diversity influences the formation of social capital (i.e. resources such as the trust and reciprocity inherent in social relations in such workplaces). Drawing on theories about intergroup contact and intercultural communication, this article analyses interviews with 31 employees from two highly ethnically diverse Danish workplaces. The article shows how linguistic barriers such as different levels of majority language competence and their consequent misunderstandings breed mistrust and hostility, while communication related to collaboration and ‘small talk’ may provide linguistic bridges to social capital formation.

2010 ◽  
Vol 30 ◽  
pp. 311-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
David M. Hedge ◽  
Renée J. Johnson ◽  
Hyun Jung Yun

Scholars are rediscovering the social context of politics and governing, including race, trust, and, if recent elections are a guide, America’s “culture wars.” Social capital that network of social relations and the accompanying norms of trust and reciprocity is very much to the point of those dynamics. Evidence from the first round of welfare reform in the late 1990s is used to explore the relationship between elements of social capital, race and state welfare policy choices. The evidence from the welfare case suggests that one element of social capital, generalized trust, often has an independent effect on welfare policies. States with higher levels of trust are more likely to adopt welfare policies that rely on “carrots” rather than “sticks” to move individuals off welfare and into jobs. At the same time the evidence makes it clear that the influence of trust is very much conditioned by racial considerations, most notably the racial composition of welfare caseloads.


REGIONOLOGY ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 156-173
Author(s):  
Olga L. Panchenko

Introduction. The article considers the non-profit sector as an important agent of the emerging civil society in modern Russia. It plays an important role in the social space of civil society, since it is based on the activity of the citizens being actors themselves. The purpose of the study is to scrutinize the impact of social capital on the development of civil society in the regional context. Materials and Methods. The object of the research is the practices of providing social services to the population by socially oriented non-profit organizations. The study employed the following qualitative and quantitative methods: focus group and mass survey of social service recipients. Results. The article has identified the features of social capital in the non-governmental sector in the field of providing social services; the main feature is “the level of trust”, expressed through the intentions and actions of citizens receiving social services in relation to socially oriented non-profit organizations. The research has revealed that there is confidence in the activities of socially oriented non-profit organizations at the micro level of the society: recipients of social services are satisfied with the quality of the services provided and are ready to continue to interact with such institutions. Discussion and Conclusion. The study has confirmed the author’s hypothesis: the quality of social capital at this stage of social relations is a deterrent to the institutionalization of the practices of the non-profit sector. The article will be useful for the target groups - non-profit organizations as agents of civil society, public services that provide social services to the population, as well as all researchers working in the conceptual field of civil society development in the regional dimension. The promising areas of further research are the ways and directions to increase confidence in the non-profit sector as a translator of the civil society values.


2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Urbanek

The aspiration to keep the synergy in relations between majorities and minorities repeatedly emerges as the cause of conflicts in social relations. It is also a subject of the interest of the multicultural education, particularly in countries of Eastern Europe, building contacts with the culturally and ethnically diverse groups to a wider scale. Relations in culturally, religiously and ethnic diverse societies, are becoming more and more related to the personal attitudes and a given policy. These issues acquire in the prison circumstances even greater significance, as given moods and personal attitudes of the prison staff create the pragmatic aspects of the professional activities addressed to the sentenced. Additionally, the key role is played by the quality of the penitentiary policy and the legal culture. The article presents the comparative analysis of the research carried out in 2016 amongst the prison staff in Poland. The subject of the research concerned attitudes that influence the decisive processes. The personal relations have been analyzed in the context of the relation with the sentenced Muslims. The aim of the research was not only to reveal the quality of the decisions concerning the sentenced Muslims, but also the sources of such decisions. The latter, in consequence, may shift, as the research results prove, towards synergy or discrimination. The diversification of the discrimination was one of the intriguing aspects, disclosed at various levels that not always explicitly concerned the discrimination of the minority.


Author(s):  
Dennis Eversberg

Based on analyses of a 2016 German survey, this article contributes to debates on ‘societal nature relations’ by investigating the systematic differences between socially specific types of social relations with nature in a flexible capitalist society. It presents a typology of ten different ‘syndromes’ of attitudes toward social and environmental issues, which are then grouped to distinguish between four ideal types of social relationships with nature: dominance, conscious mutual dependency, alienation and contradiction. These are located in Pierre Bourdieu’s (1984) social space to illustrate how social relationships with nature correspond to people’s positions within the totality of social relations. Understanding how people’s perceptions of and actions pertaining to nature are shaped by their positions in these intersecting relations of domination – both within social space and between society and nature – is an important precondition for developing transformative strategies that will be capable of gaining majority support in flexible capitalist societies.


2021 ◽  
pp. 088541222199941
Author(s):  
Bokyong Shin

Although social capital is a relational concept, existing studies have focused less on measuring social relations. This article fills the gap by reviewing recent studies that used network measures grouped into three types according to the measurement level. The first group defined social capital as an individual asset and used node-level measures to explain personal benefits. The second group defined social capital as a collective asset and used graph-level measures to describe collective properties. The third group used subgraph-level measures to explain the development of social capital. This article offers a link between the concepts and measures of social capital.


2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
M F Kvorning ◽  
A Srivarathan ◽  
S Nygaard ◽  
R Lund

Abstract Background During the coming years, selected social housing areas in Denmark will undergo large structural changes as part of a political agenda. Previous studies on the effects of such interventions are inconclusive. Residential areas are important for the development of social relations and health. The aim of this study was to explore the associations between social relations and self-rated health (SRH) and the interaction with country of origin in an ethnically diverse social housing area undergoing demolition, and compare results with the municipality. Methods Data include multilingual interviewer driven surveys with residents aged 45+ years before demolition began in 2018 (N = 209) and during the demolition in 2019 (N = 132), and a health survey on municipality level (N = 1638). Information on social relations include contact frequency with and support from family, friends and neighbors. SRH was dichotomized into high/low. Descriptive and multivariate logistic regression analyses adjusted for age, sex and Western/non-Western origin are presented. Results In cross-sectional analyses from 2018, low contact frequency and low support increased the risk of low SRH, OR = 1.44 (0.63-3.29) and OR = 1.23 (0.62-2.48), especially when also having non-Western origin compared to having high contact frequency or support and Western origin, OR = 6.27 (1.80-21.84) and OR = 4.43 (1.68-11.69), respectively. The same association was seen in 2019 and on municipality level. Low contact frequency in 2018 was associated with higher risk of developing or maintaining low SRH in 2019 compared to the group with high contact frequency in 2018 in longitudinal analyses, OR = 3.04 (0.91-10.91). Conclusions Poor social relations increased the risk of low SRH, especially when also having non-Western origin. Having poor social relations before the demolition was associated with an increased risk of developing or maintaining low SRH during the demolition in an ethnically diverse social housing area. Key messages Having low contact frequency before area demolition in a social housing area in Denmark increased the risk of developing or maintaining low self-rated health after demolition had begun. Having poor social relations and non-Western origin is associated with a strong increased risk of low self-rated health in a deprived ethnic diverse social housing area in Denmark.


Author(s):  
I GEDE JULI KRISTINA PUTRA ◽  
I KETUT SURYA DIARTA ◽  
NI WAYAN SRI ASTITI

Social Engineering of Making Agricultural Road Access in Subak Gunung Kangin Bangli Village Baturiti Subdistrict Tabanan Regency Social engineering of making agricultural road access in Subak Gunung Kangin is an effort to overcome the problem of the road that is less good. The success of making access to agricultur roads is interesting to examine by looking at aspects of social capital that support and social engineering processes. The purpose of research to determine social capital owned by subak and social engineering process. The research location is located in Subak Gunung Kangin, Bangli Village, Baturiti Subdistrict, Tabanan Regency. The analytical method used is qualitative descriptive. The results showed that social capital owned by subak supports social engineering (1) trust; The existence of trust among subak members, subak with kerama adat, subak with road initiator and subak with outsiders; (2) social value; The value of togetherness, the value of mutual cooperation, and the value of volunteerism; (3) social networks; The existence of social relations with karma adat, outsiders and local government. While the social engineering process of making agricultural road access is seen from social engineering indicators; (1) cause of internal changes due to lack of access to roads and external changes of opportunity; (2) agent of change is the initiator of the road; (3) target of internal change is subak and external are external; (4) channel of internal change is paum subak and external is negotiation with outsiders; And (5) strategy of change is a personal approach.


Author(s):  
Antonin Cohen

Over time, Pierre Bourdieu became an emergent reference in international relations—quite paradoxically, given that Bourdieu himself did not pay much attention to international relations as such. This chapter exhaustively reviews the works of Bourdieu in search of the international, both as a dimension of social capital and as a social space across societies. It then retraces how pioneering scholars used the theory and concepts of Bourdieu to develop their analysis of transnational processes. It also assesses the more recent blossoming of scholarship using Bourdieu in international relations, sometimes at the risk of inconsistency with the theory of Bourdieu. It finally suggests a coherent reconstruction of a theory of transnational fields based on Bourdieu for further research. Throughout the chapter, the notion of field serves as a golden thread to go back to its genealogy, to be found, surprisingly, in international relations.


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