This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Citing Articles via Scopus Google Scholar Articles by Parker, D. Articles by Song, M. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                         What's this?

Ethnicity, Social Capital and the Internet

British Chinese websites

University of Nottingham, UK, David.parker{at}nottingham.ac.uk

Miri Song

University of Kent at Canterbury, UK, a.m.song{at}kent.ac.uk

This article explores websites developed to express the interests and experiences of young Chinese people in Britain. Drawing on content analysis of site discussions and dialogues with site users, we argue these new communicative practices are best understood through a reworking of the social capital problematic. First, by recognizing the irreducibility of Internet-mediated connections to the calculative instrumentalism underlying many applications of social capital theory. Second, by providing a more differentiated account of social capital. The interactions we explore comprise a specifically ‘second generation’ form of social capital, cutting across the binary of bonding and bridging social capital. Third, judgement on the social capital consequences of Internet interactions must await a longer-term assessment of whether British Chinese institutions emerge to engage with the wider polity.

Key Words: racialization • second generation • social inclusion • social network

Ethnicities, Vol. 6, No. 2, 178-202 (2006)
DOI: 10.1177/1468796806063751


CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?