Linguistic Isolation, Social Capital, and Immigrant Belonging

A wealth of evidence points to the positive outcomes experienced by immigrants who can speak the dominant language in a receiving country. But most scholarship treats language acquisition as a variable that affects labor market opportunities, whether conceptualized as human or social capital. We argue that analyzing language as a noneconomic resource that can flow through social networks is important not only for understanding immigrant integration, but also for gaining insight into the nature of social capital. Using qualitative data from recently resettled Burundian and Burmese refugees in Michigan, United States, we explore the experiences resulting from linguistic isolation at the household and community level, demonstrating how linguistically isolated refugees experience language as noneconomic social capital, in that language provides access to necessary information and constitutes an act of social power. Our research suggests that the linguistic resources of communities (both immigrant and receiving communities) are a key component of immigrant integration. Our study also points to the importance of thinking about language as a form of social capital that provides social power in addition to economic opportunities.