Title: Migrants' Acquisition of Bonding, Bridging and Linking Social Capital in

Intercultural Ireland. Fidele Mutwarasibo

Research and Integration Officer at the ICI and PhD student at UCD (School of Sociology)

Email: fidele@immigrantcouncil.ie

• Why are voluntary associations critical for the migrants in their integration in the country of residence?– Migrants often have no vote– Migrants may have no direct contacts with policy

makers– Migrants often have little contact with mainstream

media

• Should migrants only invest their time in associations that generate bridging and linking social capital?

• Why should migrants have a channel of communication with the establishment?– Marginalisation and powerlessness– Alienation and emergence of insurgents– Examples of “ethnic/racial” tensions

• 2001 – North East of England• 2005 – French riots

– Infra-political protest (Wacquant, 1993):• Lyon Riots – 1990: $120 million• Los Angeles (Rodney King) - 1992: $1billion• Bristol – 1992 : 500 elite troops called in to restore order.

• Integration Models– The ‘multicultural model’, based on ‘respect and protection of

cultural diversity’ and aimed ‘at explicitly guaranteeing the identity of the immigrant community’.

– The ‘assimilationism model’ (also called republican or universalistic), which has ‘equality at its root’, but only for those individuals who fall with ‘the privileged category of “citizens”

– The ‘separation or exclusionist model’, characterised by ‘restrictive and rigid immigration legislation and policies’, referring in this context mainly to the ‘legal conditionality that must be satisfied in order to have access to and reside in the territory.

• Robert Putnam recent work on Social capital – Ethnic diversity is increasing in most advanced countries, driven mostly

by sharp increases in immigration. In the long run immigration and diversity are likely to have important cultural, economic, fiscal, and developmental benefits. In the short run, however, immigration and ethnic diversity tend to reduce social solidarity and social capital. New evidence from the US suggests that in ethnically diverse neighbourhoods residents of all races tend to ‘hunker down’. Trust (even of one’s own race) is lower, altruism and community cooperation rarer, friends fewer. In the long run, however, successful immigrant societies have overcome such fragmentation by creating new, cross-cutting forms of social solidarity and more encompassing identities

• Definition

• Typology – Bonding, Bridging and Linking social capital

• Levels– Individual– Group

• Social capital – Learning school for civic and political engagements– How easy is it the migrant to acquire social capital let

us say in Ireland?• the immigration regime; • lack or presence of an integration policy; • the attitudes of the media; • the attitudes of the general public; • the migrant’s attributes including: educational achievement,

employment status, political leadership, family status, competence in the host country language(s), age, religiosity, intended length of residence; etc.

• How representative are “they”? Do they form a community after all?– Community

• Common Territory • Common History and Shared Values• Participation in common activities and high degree of

solidarity

– Community in practice• Neighbourhood or Geographical Communities • Community of Interest (lone parents for example)• Ethnic communities

• Funding regimes of migrants’ associations in Ireland– Overall picture and capacity– Small grants– Capital and staffing grants– Individuals versus group funding– State versus other sources of funding– Sustainability

• Migrant Communities’ access to resources – Learning from other Jurisdictions

• Pluralism• Corporate (ethnic entrepreneurs)• Social economy• “Fully fledged” mainstreaming• Top down approach through community

engineering

• How can migrant Community Organisations be more effective in Ireland?– Working together– Forming a social Movement– Maximising on the skills of “migrant intellectuals”– Engaging with other actors in the civic and political

spheres in Ireland

• Recent Developments– Funding sources: NAPAR, ERF, Ireland Aid

(Development education), County/City Councils, Social Entrepreneurs Ireland, Community Foundation for Ireland, St. Stephens Green Trust, Pobal, Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust, etc.

– Fitzpatrick Associates Research – Department of J, E and L R and NAPAR

– Atlantic Philanthropies research on the promotion of migrants’ voice

• Future Prospects?–Not a Seer!

–Time will Tell!

•Thank you all