Beyond community: An analysis of social capital and the social networks of Brazilian migrants in Amsterdam

Abstract

In this paper we scrutinize the social networks and the social capital invested within these, of a relatively new and understudied immigrant group in the North-European context. We show how the social networks of Brazilian immigrants in Amsterdam are segmented along strong dividing lines, especially surrounding legal status. We show that this segmentation has different outcomes for migrants belonging to the different segments of the community, and that within these segments, variation also exists. By analyzing indepth interviews with 30 Brazilian immigrants in Amsterdam, we find that a Brazilian community does not exist, and that assistance, non-assistance, and a commercialization of social relations all take place at the same time among the social networks of Brazilians in Amsterdam. In doing so, we also uncover some of the mechanisms related to these processes and hence provide relevant insights for literature that studies the contexts in which immigrant social networks provide for social mobility and the contexts in which such networks do not.

How social media transform migrant networks and facilitate migration

“…There are no such elaborate offline social support networks for Brazilian and Ukrainian migrants to the Netherlands. A split between highly skilled migration and (often-irregular) low-skilled migration characterizes Brazilian migration to the Netherlands (Roggeveen and van Meeteren 2013). There were two distinct and temporary waves of Ukrainian migration to the Netherlands (Kubal and Dekker forthcoming).…”

Beyond the ‘Migrant Network’? Exploring Assistance Received in the Migration of Brazilians to Portugal and the Netherlands

“…In addition, in Brazilian migration, the importance of migrant networks has been identified, for example, in the case of Brazilians going to the USA (Fusco 2002;Margolis 1994), Spain (Solé et al 2011), Japan (Zell and Skop 2011) and Portugal (Padilla 2006). Research on Brazilian migration to the Netherlands hardly exists (Roggeveen and van Meeteren 2013;Sandoval 2008).…”

Longing for “Normal” Post‐Fordism: Cape Verdean Labor‐Power on a Lisbon Periphery in Crisis

“…Furthermore, a social network of inclusion ends up being, in certain cases, a network of exclusion, impeding access to different employment and educational opportunities (cf. Roggeveen and Van Meeteren :1080).…”