Pathways to Refugee Integration: Social Service Utilization and Rebuilding Bridging Social Capitals in Resettlement Cities

• In Event: International Migration Section Refereed Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): 10. Immigrant integration/assimilation

Abstract

Refugee integration has been considered the primary goal of resettlement. From nineteenth-century White European immigrants to post-1965 racially diverse migration, debates have focused on whether integration is best understood as structural racial incorporation or individual adaptation. Yet little is known about integration within local social support systems or how refugees rebuild social capital in resettlement cities.

Using data from the 2022 Annual Survey of Refugees, this study examined whether human capital characteristics were associated with engagement in local social services and whether participation was associated with the rebuilding of bridging social capital.

The results showed refugees with a high school diploma had higher odds of attending ESL classes (OR = 1.882, p < .001), while those with medium English proficiency and a bachelor’s degree were more likely to enroll in job preparation programs (OR = 1.442, p < .05; OR = 1.768, p < .01). English proficiency was strongly associated with an educational degree (OR = 6.659, p < .001). In contrast, unemployed refugees were more likely to attend ESL classes (OR = 2.402, p < .01) and pursue further education (OR = 2.802, p < .001). Participation in a job training program (OR = 1.145, p < .01) and further education (OR = 2.315, p < .001) were also associated with greater odds of building bridging social capital.

These findings highlight that refugees’ engagement in social services is driven by individual human capital while simultaneously constrained by the ideology of self-sufficiency policy ideology. Additionally, employed refugees reach self-sufficiency while potentially constraining their opportunities for further personal development and broader social integration. The findings fills the gap in the current literature by identifying social services as a pathway for refugee integration and demonstrates how policy orientation shapes service engagement while facilitating the rebuilding of bridging social capital during refugee resettlement.

Authors

• Shu-Yun Yang, University at Buffalo

• Isok Kim