Beyond community: an analysis of social capital and the social networks of Brazilian immigrants in Amsterdam

In this paper we scrutinize the social networks and the social capital invested within these, of a relatively new and understudied immigrant group in the North-European context. We show how the social networks of Brazilian immigrants in Amsterdam are segmented along strong dividing lines, especially surrounding legal status. We show that this segmentation has different outcomes for migrants belonging to the different segments of the community, and that within these segments, variation also exists. By analyzing in-depth interviews with 30 Brazilian immigrants in Amsterdam, we find that a Brazilian community does not exist, and that assistance, non-assistance, and a commercialization of social relations all take place at the same time among the social networks of Brazilians in Amsterdam. In doing so, we also uncover some of the mechanisms related to these processes and hence provide relevant insights for literature that studies the contexts in which immigrant social networks provide for social mobility and the contexts in which such networks do not.