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Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
MałgorzataDziekońska
WyższaSzkołaFinansówiZarządzania,Bialystok
CONNECTIONSINTHEWORKPLACEASAWAY
OFACCUMULATINGSOCIALCAPITAL
BYPOLISHIMMIGRANTSINTHEUSA
Socialcapitalis,broadlyspeaking,allsocialrelationsthathaveproductivebenefits.Tesesocialrela-
tionsappearinpolitical,religious,andsocialparticipation,socialtrust,honesty,reciprocity,philan-
thropy,andgroupactivities(suchasvolunteering)or,obviously,betweenpeopleintheworkplace.In
BowlingAloneRobertPutnamsuggeststhatpeople,slivesrevolvearoundworkalotthesedays,and
peoplenotonlytransfertheirsociallivestotheirworkplacebutalsoaccumulatetheirsocialcapital
there.Tequestionsdiscussedinthispaperarethefollowing:doPolishimmigrantsmaintaincontacts
inanAmericanworkplace?Ofwhatkind?Whatbenefits,ifany,dotheygainfromthem?Dothey
bondorbridge,andwithwhom?Teresearchconductedwasqualitative.Polishimmigrantswho
havelivedintheUSAformorethanveyearswerecontactedviae-mailandaskedopenquestions
aboutthenatureoftheirsocialcapitalaccumulatedintheirworkplace,aswellasaboutthebenefits
stemmingfromit.Teresultsrevealthattheseconnectionsarenotlimitedtoaworkplacebutspread
intootherspheresofimmigrants,lives.
Americansocietyisacompositionofimmigrantsamongwhichimmigrantsfrom
Polandhaveconstitutedasubstantialgroup.Terst1PolescametotheUSAasearly
asthe18thcentury;bytheendofthe20thcenturyPolesconstitutedagroupof466,740
people(Census2000).TeyimmigratedtoAmericaformanyreasons,buttheleading
oneshavealwaysbeeneconomicandpolitical.AsfarasthePolishimmigrationoftoday
isconcerned,chainmigrationisstillinfullswing(Osipowicz2002).However,insome
aspectstheimmigrationhasgainedanewavor.TePoleswhocrosstheAmerican
bordertodayaremorecosmopolitan:theyaredemanding,well-educated,withagood
commandofEnglish;theyareopentothenew,theyhavetheirowngoals,theywant
toworkforexperience,theyeasilystartnewrelationships,andtheybuildtheirsocial
capitaltransnationally(Iglicka2008).Intheageofinformationtechnology,theInternet
seemstobetheleadingsourceofsocialnetworks,buttheplacewherepeopleofvari-
ousbackgroundsarejoinedtoworktogetheristhesecondplace,nexttofamilyand
friends,whereimmigrantsaccumulatetheirsocialcapital.
1TeveryrstPolesinAmericawereJanzKolna(1476)andtheeightanonymouspassengersofthevessel
“MaryandMargaret”(1608).