Socially Included or Excluded? The Role of Social Capital among Filipino Labour Migrants

Abstract

This article focuses on how social capital is mobilisable and usable for Filipino labour migrants in their efforts to become part of the Finnish labour market. Drawing on the argument of Anthias that not all kinds of resources enable social capital, this article also reveals the dominant role of the minority church as a provider of support simultaneously confining its members’ inclusion to the destination society. The article demonstrates how mobilisation of social capital is possible only in certain socioeconomic context, for example, when social ties transfer usable resources for the actors, such as information and access to a new job, whereas in other cases, the social ties chiefly provide non-mobilisable resources, such as emotional support and solidarity. However, these resources can be of advantage for strengthening the ethnic identity of migrants.

Keywords

• social capital
• social ties
• mobilisable
• filipino labour migrants
• inclusion