Web Communities, Immigration, and Social Capital Maric, Jasmina
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Tilburg University Web communities, immigration, and social capital Maric, Jasmina Publication date: 2014 Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Link to publication in Tilburg University Research Portal Citation for published version (APA): Maric, J. (2014). Web communities, immigration, and social capital. [s.n.]. 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Eijlander, in het openbaar te verdedigen ten overstaan van een door het college voor promoties aangewezen commissie in de Ruth First zaal van de Universiteit op dinsdag 18 november 2014 om 10.15 uur door Jasmina Marić geboren op 24 augustus 1968 te Belgrado, Joegoslavië Promotor: Prof. dr. H.J. van den Herik Co-promotores: Dr. R. Cozijn Dr. M. Spotti Promotiecommissie Prof.dr. A.P.J. van den Bosch Prof.dr. J.G. Lambooy Prof.dr. A. Plaat Prof.dr. E.O. Postma Prof.dr. M. van Reisen SIKS Dissertation Series No. 2014-39 The research reported in this thesis has been carried out under the auspices of SIKS, the Dutch Research School for Information and Knowledge Systems. TiCC Ph.D. Series No. 36 ISBN 978-91-628-9193-0 Copyright © 2014 by Jasmina Marić Cover design by Tatjana Koraksić Printed by Kompendiet All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronically, mechanically, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the author. ii To David iii iv Preface Europe is in the midst of an immigration crisis. Anti-immigrant rhetoric is being heard from mainstream politicians. While xenophobic parties are on the rise, immigrants face an increasing marginalisation in all aspects of everyday life. Europe, whose history has been shaped by migration, is today a highly polarised society, and Europeans are mistrustful and nervous about new and recent immigrants. The way Europe will handle the challenges of immigration will, in greater part, determine the future of the European Union. Europe needs the immediate development of creative approaches that can help in the restoration of a dialogue between Europeans and recent immigrants. If trust is not recovered, Europe‟s existential crisis, fuelled by the global economic crisis, can end up creating tragic consequences. I personally, have had the rare opportunity to be an immigrant in different parts of Europe (South and North), and to experience immigrant lifestyles in different eras ‒ without the web and with the web. The difference between these two immigrant experiences, a difference imposed by the existence of the web, was immense. After I realised that web communication fundamentally changed my experience of being an immigrant I engaged in scientific research in the field of web communication and immigration. My goal is to prove scientifically that the web is a new tool that can help in bridging the gap between immigrants and their host societies. The aim of this thesis is to argue that the web is the medium in which the dialogue between native Europeans and immigrants is created. The web not only changed how people communicate, it also changed with whom people communicate. Web users are able to meet people online, even those who they may never meet in person, and in a way that avoids social and distance barriers. I believe that this simple fact is intuitively acknowledged as the feature of web communities which actually provides immigrants with new opportunities. Therefore I argue that web communities may be an appropriate tool to meet some of the challenges faced by immigrants. My principal motive in writing this thesis is to investigate scientifically the validity and capacity of these ideas. By analysing the nature and the depth of the web communication by immigrants, as well as the social processes that this communication induce, in combination with the technology on which the v whole communication process rests, this thesis offers a scientific perspective on the topic of bridging social capital on the web. This thesis consists of six Chapters. Chapter 1 provides an introduction to the main concepts for my research ‒ the problem statement and three research questions. Chapter 2 offers an overview of the literature on web communities, immigration, and social capital. Chapters 3, 4, and 5 constitute the main body of the research. Conclusions are provided in Chapter 6. I wish to thank Joke Hellemons who kindly helped me many times with the correspondence and administrative matters. I also wish to thank my three thesis supervisors, Professor Jaap van den Herik, Dr. Rein Cozijn, and Dr. Max Spotti, for their knowledge and support with which they encouraged me to endure throughout the whole challenging process. I owe special gratitude to Professor Jaap van den Herik who believed in my research idea and accepted to teach me. He taught me more in the first four hours of our meeting than I had learned in the three years of my research before I met him. I am privileged for the opportunity to work with Professor Jaap van den Herik. My indebtedness to David Levy remains boundless for providing me with necessary oxygen for the creation, duration and finalisation of this thesis. Better yet, if everyone had a mentor like David this world would be a different place. I am honoured to call David a friend. Finally, my special gratitude and love goes to my family, Davor and Vigor, for their patience and unfailing support. Jasmina Marić Gothenburg, June 2014 vi Table of Contents Preface ............................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ...........................................................................................vii List of Definitions ........................................................................................... xiii List of Figures ................................................................................................ xv List of Tables ................................................................................................ xvii 1 Introduction ................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Immigration.......................................................................................... 2 1.2 Information technology ........................................................................ 3 1.3 Social capital ....................................................................................... 4 1.4 Historical changes and their development ........................................... 6 1.5 Main concepts ..................................................................................... 8 1.5.1 Immigrants‟ integration ................................................................ 8 1.5.2 Web communities ...................................................................... 11 1.5.3 Six characteristics of the new web space .................................. 14 1.5.4 Social capital: building integration networks .............................. 15 1.6 Problem statement and three research questions ............................. 20 1.7 Research design and methodology ................................................... 23 1.7.1 Descriptive analysis .................................................................. 23 1.7.2 Good practice analysis .............................................................. 24 1.7.3 Interviews .................................................................................. 25 1.7.4 Scope of the research ............................................................... 26 1.8 Structure of the thesis ....................................................................... 27 2 The Internet in everyday life – online in offline .......................................... 29 2.1 The growth of Internet ....................................................................... 30 2.2 The transformation of social interaction ............................................. 32 2.3 The role of IT in social integration ..................................................... 34 2.4 Is a web community a social network? .............................................. 36 2.4.1 Resonance ................................................................................ 37 2.4.2 Density ...................................................................................... 38 2.4.3 Boundedness ............................................................................ 38 2.4.4 Range ....................................................................................... 38 2.4.5 Exclusivity