Buscando trabajo: Social networking among Latin American immigrants to Oklahoma.

Abstract

Previous research on immigration has taken for granted the existence of immigrant networks. This is a significant oversight given their importance in conveying social capital and in immigrant networks' contribution to the growth of grant communities in the United States. Using data collected in the summer of 2002, I look at the development of an immigrant network in a rural town in northeastern Oklahoma. I determine that the immigrant network in the community under study is composed of three distinct yet interconnected subnetworks, a traditional subnetwork, a church subnetwork, and a contract subnetwork. While each of these secondary networks is composed of different social arrangements, they all provide similar services in a similar manner. The services provided within the greater immigrant network have served to increase the size, strength, and density of the local immigrant community. I conclude with a discussion of immigrant quality of life in small town America and the possibility that immigrant decisions to move to rural locations are based on a search for a higher standard of living.