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Beyond structural determinism: advantages and challenges of qualitative social network analysis for studying social capital of migrants
Author(s) -
Sommer Elena,
Gamper Markus
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
global networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.685
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1471-0374
pISSN - 1470-2266
DOI - 10.1111/glob.12302
Subject(s) - social capital , agency (philosophy) , technological determinism , social network analysis , social network (sociolinguistics) , determinism , qualitative research , sociology , meaning (existential) , qualitative property , structure and agency , data science , public relations , knowledge management , epistemology , social science , computer science , political science , world wide web , social media , philosophy , machine learning
In this article we address the challenges and advantages of studying social capital of migrant entrepreneurs, applying a mixed‐method research design involving qualitative semi‐structured interviews and standardized network map data collection. Despite some limitations discussed in the article, the study illustrates that an applied methodological approach has a potential to overcome some of the pitfalls of ‘structural determinism’ by looking both at structural and contextual aspects as well as actors’ active role in accessing and (re)shaping their business‐related networks across different geographic spaces. The article demonstrates that qualitative social network analysis is particularly valuable for emphasizing the role of human agency and temporal changes of social relations both in terms of network composition and network content as well as for exploring the meaning attached to social ties, potential access barriers to certain types of social capital and strategies to overcome these barriers.