Exploration of Communicative Social Capital, Civic Engagement and Political Engagement of the Korean Diaspora
type: CreativeWork
description: The purpose of this study was to examine qualitatively how members of the Korean diaspora in the Washington, DC, area make meaning of ethnic community, social capital, and civic and political engagement. More specifically, the study examined how communicative social capital influences civic and political engagement as well as other factors that influence or inhibit civic and political engagement of the Korean diaspora. Previous communication scholarship has under-examined social capital of ethnically diverse publics in relation to these aspects. Literature regarding the diaspora, ethnic identity, social capital, and civic and political engagement contributed to this study. From the literature, four research questions were posed: How do members of the Korean diaspora make meaning of the Korean community? How do members of the Korean diaspora make meaning of social capital and create opportunities for social capital? How do members of the Korean diaspora make meaning of civic and political engagement? and, How does social capital influence civic and political engagement? To best illustrate and describe how members of the Korean diaspora experience the phenomena of the diasporic community, social capital, and civic and political engagement, I chose a qualitative research method, which utilized 42 in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with members of the Korean diaspora in the Washington, DC, area, guided by an interview protocol. I utilized a grounded theory approach to data analysis. From the data, several themes arouse regarding ethnic community, social capital and civic and political engagement. Results suggested that members of the Korean diaspora made meaning of ethnic community in relation to ethnic identity, and there were varying perceptions of the Korean community, drawbacks as well as reasons to keep the community, which varied depending on the generations. Social capital was found to be plentiful in the churches, but not so much in the community…
abstract: The purpose of this study was to examine qualitatively how members of the Korean diaspora in the Washington, DC, area make meaning of ethnic community, social capital, and civic and political engagement. More specifically, the study examined how communicative social capital influences civic and political engagement as well as other factors that influence or inhibit civic and political engagement of the Korean diaspora. Previous communication scholarship has under-examined social capital of ethnically diverse publics in relation to these aspects. Literature regarding the diaspora, ethnic identity, social capital, and civic and political engagement contributed to this study. From the literature, four research questions were posed: How do members of the Korean diaspora make meaning of the Korean community? How do members of the Korean diaspora make meaning of social capital and create opportunities for social capital? How do members of the Korean diaspora make meaning of civic and political engagement? and, How does social capital influence civic and political engagement? To best illustrate and describe how members of the Korean diaspora experience the phenomena of the diasporic community, social capital, and civic and political engagement, I chose a qualitative research method, which utilized 42 in-depth, semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with members of the Korean diaspora in the Washington, DC, area, guided by an interview protocol. I utilized a grounded theory approach to data analysis. From the data, several themes arouse regarding ethnic community, social capital and civic and political engagement. Results suggested that members of the Korean diaspora made meaning of ethnic community in relation to ethnic identity, and there were varying perceptions of the Korean community, drawbacks as well as reasons to keep the community, which varied depending on the generations. Social capital was found to be plentiful in the churches, but not so much in the community…
author: Jang, Ahnlee
date published: 2012
date modified: 2026-07-24T03:02:10Z
provider: University of Maryland
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Maryland

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/1903/12753