Being young, female and Laotian: Ethnicity as social capital at the intersection of gender, generation, ‘race’ and age
Being young, female and Laotian: Ethnicity as social capital at the intersection of gender, generation, ‘race’ and age
Scholarship on the children of post-1965 immigrants to the USA posits that the ways in which this new second generation relates to family and the co-ethnic community has important effects on their educational achievement and socio-economic mobility. These linkages have been explained through the concept of ethnicity as social capital. Utilizing qualitative data on second generation Laotian girls participating in an ethnic specific youth project focused on social justice issues, this article evaluates this conceptualization of social capital from a critical feminist perspective. I argue that a singular focus on ethnic social relations occludes the complex life experiences of the children of immigrants. I examine the ways in which gender and generational power relations within ethnic communities, extra-familial social influence, the impact of social contexts and structural constraints, and the role of youth as generators of social capital complicates the role of ethnicity as social capital in adaptation outcomes.
social capital, ethnicity, gender, second generation, laotians, social justice organizations
28-50
Shah, Bindi
c5c7510a-3b3d-4d12-a02a-c98e09734166
January 2007
Shah, Bindi
c5c7510a-3b3d-4d12-a02a-c98e09734166
Shah, Bindi
(2007)
Being young, female and Laotian: Ethnicity as social capital at the intersection of gender, generation, ‘race’ and age.
Ethnic and Racial Studies, 30 (1), .
(doi:10.1080/01419870601006520).
Abstract
Scholarship on the children of post-1965 immigrants to the USA posits that the ways in which this new second generation relates to family and the co-ethnic community has important effects on their educational achievement and socio-economic mobility. These linkages have been explained through the concept of ethnicity as social capital. Utilizing qualitative data on second generation Laotian girls participating in an ethnic specific youth project focused on social justice issues, this article evaluates this conceptualization of social capital from a critical feminist perspective. I argue that a singular focus on ethnic social relations occludes the complex life experiences of the children of immigrants. I examine the ways in which gender and generational power relations within ethnic communities, extra-familial social influence, the impact of social contexts and structural constraints, and the role of youth as generators of social capital complicates the role of ethnicity as social capital in adaptation outcomes.
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Published date: January 2007
Keywords:
social capital, ethnicity, gender, second generation, laotians, social justice organizations
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Local EPrints ID: 186237
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/186237
ISSN: 0141-9870
PURE UUID: c5f75161-9d05-49ad-a7e9-ca9284dd754d
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Date deposited: 16 May 2011 14:26
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:38
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