In this article, we argue that not all social connections contribute to social capital as most people have conceived it. People with strong ethnic identifications and who associate primarily with people of their own kind either will withdraw from civic participation or will belong only to organizations made up of their own nationality. People with looser ties to their in-group are more likely to take an active role in the larger society. We show the importance of acculturation on broader dimensions of civic engagement by analyzing a Los Angeles Times survey of ethnic Chinese in Southern California in 1997.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Banfield, E. (1958). The moral basis of a backward society. New York: Free Press.
2.
Berman, S. (1997). Civil society and political institutionalization. American Behavioral Scientist, 40, 562-574.
3.
Brehm, J., & Rahn, W. (1997). Individual level evidence for the causes and consequences of social capital. American Journal of Political Science, 41, 888-1023.
4.
Brewer, M. B., von Hippel, W., & Gooden, M. P. (1999). Diversity and organizational identity: The problem of entree after entry. In D. A. Prentice & D. T. Miller (Eds.), Cultural divides. New York: Russell Sage.
5.
Cho, W. K. T. (1999). Naturalization, socialization, participation: Immigrants and non-voting. Journal of Politics, 61, 1140-1155.
6.
Cohen, S., Doyle, W. J., Skoner, D. P., Rabin, B. S., & Gwaltney, J. M. (1997, June 25). Social ties and susceptibility to the common cold. Journal of the American Medical Association, 277, 1940-1944.
7.
Dawes, R. M., van de Kragt, A. J. C., & Orbell, J. (1990). Cooperation for the benefit of us—Not me, or my conscience. In J. J. Mansbridge (Ed.), Beyond self-interest. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
8.
de la Garza, R. O., Falcon, A., & Garcia, F. C. (1996). Will the real Americans please stand up: Anglo and Mexican support of core American political values. American Journal of Political Science, 40, 335-351.
9.
Fukayama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. New York: Free Press.
10.
Gaertner, S. L., Dovidio, J. F., Nier, J. A., Ward, C. M., & Banker, B. S. (1999). Across cultural divides: The value of a superordinate identity. In D. A. Prentice & D. T. Miller (Eds.), Cultural divides. New York: Russell Sage Foundation.
11.
Gandhi, S. (1992). Asian American political behavior. Unpublished honors thesis, University of Maryland at College Park.
12.
Gill, J. (2000). Generalized linear models: A unified approach (QASS Series). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
13.
Granovetter, M. S. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360-1380.
14.
Green, M. C., & Brock, T. C. (1998). Trust, mood, and outcomes of friendship determine preferences for real versus ersatz social capital. Political Psychology, 19, 527-544.
15.
Gundelach, P., & Torpe, L. (1997, February/March). Social capital and the democratic role of voluntary associations. Paper presented at the European Consortium for Political Research Joint Sessions, Bern, Switzerland.
16.
Hsu, F. L. K. (1971). The challenge of the American dream: The Chinese in the United States. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
17.
Knack, S., & Keefer, P. (1997). Does social capital have an economic payoff? A cross-country investigation. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 112, 1251-1288.
18.
Levi, M. (1996). Social and unsocial capital. Politics & Society, 24, 45-55.
19.
Liao, T. F. (1994). Interpreting probability models: Logit, probit, and other generalized linear models. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.
20.
Liu, E. (1998). The accidental Asian: Notes of a native speaker. New York: Random House.
21.
Lyman, S. M. (1986). Chinatown and little Tokyo: Power, conflict, and community among Chinese and Japanese immigrants in America. Millwood, NY: Associated Faculty Press, Inc.
22.
Newton, K. (1997). Social capital and democracy. American Behavioral Scientist, 40, 575-586.
23.
Newton, K. (2002). Who trusts? The origins of social trust in six European nations. Unpublished manuscript, University of Southampton, UK.
24.
Ong, P., & Nakanishi, D. T. (1996). Becoming citizens, becoming voters: The naturalization and political participation of Asian Pacific immigrants. In B. O. Hing & R. Lee (Eds.), Reframing the immigration debate. Los Angeles: LEAP Asian Pacific American Public Policy Institute and UCLA Asian American Studies Center.
25.
Portes, A., & Bach, R. L. (1990). Immigrant America: A portrait. Berkeley: University of California Press.
26.
Putnam, R. D. (1993a). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
27.
Putnam, R. D. (1993b, spring). The prosperous community: Social capital and public life. The American Prospect, 35-42.
28.
Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6, 65-78.
29.
Rosenblum, N. L. (1998). Membership and morals. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
30.
Rosenstone, S. J., & Hansen, J. M. (1993). Mobilization, participation, and democracy in America. New York: Macmillan.
31.
Stolle, D. (1998a). Bowling together, bowling alone: The development of generalized trust in voluntary associations. Political Psychology, 19, 497-526.
32.
Stolle, D. (1998b, March). Getting to trust: An analysis of the importance of institutions, families, personal experiences, and group membership. Paper presented at the Workshop on Social Capital and Political Capital, European Consortium for Political Research Joint Sessions, Warwick, England.
33.
Stolle, D. (1999, April). Clubs and congregations: The benefits of joining an association. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.
34.
Tajfel, H. (1978). Differentiation between social groups: Studies in the social psychology of intergroup relations. London: Academic Press.
35.
de Tocqueville, A. (1945). Democracy in America (Vol. 2). Translated by H. Reeve. New York: Knopf. (Originally published in 1840)
36.
Triandis, H. C., Bontempo, R., Villareal, M. J., Asai, M., & Lucca, N. (1988). Individualism and collectivism: Cross-cultural perspectives on self-ingroup relationships. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 54, 323-338.
37.
Uslaner, E. M. (1998a). Faith, hope, and charity: Social capital, trust, and collective action. Unpublished manuscript, University of Maryland at College Park.
38.
Uslaner, E. M. (1998b, December). Social capital, television, and the “Mean World”: Trust, optimism, and civic participation. Political Psychology, 19, 441-467.
39.
Uslaner, E. M. (2002). The moral foundations of trust. New York: Cambridge University Press.
40.
Verba, S., Schlozman, K. L., & Brady, H. (1995). Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
41.
Wijkstrom, F. (1998). Hate groups and outlaw bikers: Civil society and civic virtues? Unpublished manuscript, Stockholm School of Economics, Sweden.
42.
Williams, B. (1988). Formal structures and social reality. In D. Gambetta (Ed.), Trust. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
43.
Wong, J. S. (2000). The effects of age and political exposure on the development of party identification among Asian American and Latino immigrants in the United States. Political Behavior, 22, 341-371.
44.
Wuthnow, R. (1999). Mobilizing civic engagement: The changing impact of religious involvement. In T. Skocpol & M. Fiorina (Eds.), Mobilizing civic engagement. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution.
45.
Yamigishi, T., & Yamagishi, M. (1994). Trust and commitment in the United States and Japan. Motivation and Emotion, 18, 129-166.
