作者:J. Sanders、V. Nee、S. Sernau
DOI:10.1353/sof.2002.0058
日期:2002.9.1
We study how the social capital and closure properties of family- and ethnic-based social networks influence the incorporation of immigrants into their host society In so doing, we examine the relationship between immigrants' reliance on social ties and their employment. Data collected through ethnographic depth interviews of Asian immigrants in Los Angeles indicate that reliance on social ties usually operates informally, as when job seekers consult their more experienced and better-connected friends, relatives, and acquaintances and ask them to serve as intermediaries. These networks provide group-based resources that assist immigrants in making headway in their new society. Yet reliance on social ties is most common for moves into jobs of low occupational prestige that have low human capital requirements. Because of linguistic and cultural competence, immigrants who seek jobs from coethnic employers are often more self-reliant in the job search than those who seek work more broadly. In this way, ethnolinguistic closure encourages ethnic segmentation in the labor market. By contrast, reliance on social ties, another form of closure, facilitates job hunting in the wider domain of the labor market, where prospective employers may be of any ethnicity. Reliance on social ties thereby provides a mechanism by which immigrants gain employment throughout the multiethnic metropolitan labor market.
我们研究了以家庭和种族为基础的社会网络的社会资本和封闭性如何影响移民融入东道国社会。在此过程中,我们研究了移民对社交关系的依赖与就业之间的关系。通过对洛杉矶的亚洲移民进行深入的种族学访谈收集的数据表明,对社交关系的依赖通常是非正式的,例如求职者咨询更有经验和人脉更广的朋友、亲戚和熟人,并请他们担任中介。这些网络提供的基于群体的资源有助于移民在新的社会中取得进展。然而,对社交关系的依赖最常见于职业声望低、人力资本要求低的工作。由于语言和文化能力,与那些更广泛地寻找工作的移民相比,那些向同族雇主求职的移民在求职时往往更自力更生。因此,种族语言封闭性鼓励劳动力市场的种族分割。相比之下,对社交关系的依赖是另一种封闭性,它有助于在更广泛的劳动力市场领域求职,因为潜在雇主可能是任何种族的人。因此,对社交关系的依赖为移民提供了在整个多民族大都市劳动力市场获得就业的机制。