Polish Americans in Seattle and Their Social Capital: Social Networks in Social Change

Dorota Praszalowicz , Jagiellonian University

The paper presents the results of research project that focuses on the experience of the Polish American group in Seattle, Washington. The origins of the group history date back to the 1870’s, and since then subsequent streams of Polish immigrants have settled in the Seattle metropolitan area. The group is not very large, but it has managed to build a dense fabric of social networks that cross generational and class divisions. Recent immigrants, mostly IT professionals, are joining ethnic networks and contributing to their expansion. In other words, they apparently need a sense of ethnic community. The process of producing immigrant social capital (bonding and bridging) is analyzed in the context of the ethnic and racial dynamics of the local population. The paper is based on a literature review, critical analysis of local histories, reports, local newspapers, records of immigrant associations and churches, personal documents, interviews, and oral histories. The analysis is informed by concepts of social practices (Schatzki), social capital (Putnam), invented ethnicity (Neils Conzen at al.), and superdiversity (Vertovec). The overall goal is to find a conceptualization that overcomes limitations of the classic perspectives on ethnicity and the immigrant community.

No extended abstract or paper available

 Presented in Session 103. Place/Space/Race