Why Networks Matter and How They Work? The Role of Social Networks in Attracting and Retaining Immigrants in Small Cities

Abstract

Drawing from over 50 semi-structured interviews performed in three small cities (Charlottetown, Moncton, and St. John’s) and one larger comparator city (Halifax) of the Atlantic Provinces, this chapter addresses social networks from multidisciplinary angles. We see that immigrants hold complex understandings of the meanings of multiculturalism. However, variations emerge relative to perceptions of ‘community’, its value and purpose. While some participants report having strong and positive relationships with kin and other immigrants from their ethno cultural associations, others spoke positively about broader ‘Canadian’ social networks. For younger participants, the idea of maintaining ‘traditions’, for example, through marriage to someone with a common ethno cultural heritage, is a matter of some ambivalence. But variations occur relative to the size of the city and its immigrant populations, as confirmed also by comparisons with a similar sample of respondents from Halifax. However, broadly speaking, universal principles such as honesty and respect are seen as the basis for positive social relations, more so than shared culturally based values. Not surprisingly, the data from this project also reveal notable variation in the types of networks used and, often, how they are deployed based on gender with women’s culturally assigned roles in terms of social reproduction having an impact and, for example, tending to produce ‘broader’ rather than ‘denser’ networks.