Ethnicity as Social Capital: Community-Based Institutions and Embedded Networks of Social Relations
Author(s)
Zhou, Min
Abstract
Much of the intellectual debate on ethnic differences is between the cultural perspective which emphasizes the extent to which ethnic cultures fit the requirements of mainstream society and the structural perspective which emphasizes the role of social structure and the extent to which ethnic groups are constrained by the broader social system and the networks of social relations within that system. In this article, the author argues that ethnicity cannot be viewed simply as either a structural or a cultural measure, but rather that it encompasses values and behavioral patterns that are constantly interacting with internal and external structural exigencies. The author examines the organizational structure of an immigrant community, New York City’s Chinatown, to illustrate where culture and social structure intersect, and what cause ethnicity to yield positive outcomes for some groups and negative outcomes for others.
