SOCIAL CAPITAL AND IMMIGRATION IN AUSTRALIA Social Capital and Immigration in Australia

Social Capital and Immigration in Australia

Introduction

The World Bank defines social capital as “the social relations and norms entrenched in social arrangements that facilitate individuals to manage act to attain required objectives.” Migration play very significant role in making any country's social capital supply. Nowadays, social capital is being given growing concentration by the policy makers of any government and Australian government is one of them. Since it is exchangeable between and within areas and several private and public advantages are considered to be based on the growth of social capital. Immigration to Australia is a very vital part of social capital supply in the country. (Bonczek 2001, 45-50)

Social capital is defined by the conjunction of its two terms. 'Social' refers to institutions, organizations, and networks through which individuals interact to achieve common goals. 'Capital' refers to the aspects of these interactions that can be used to achieve common goals and political gains. Hence social capital includes all interactions that develop bonds and trust between community members and that thereby increase the capacity of citizens to influence the political process. This paper discusses what social capital is and whether it is a useful concept for policy makers with a focus on immigration in Australia.

Discussion

As it is hard to gauge the results of the social capital, it is observed that immigration to Australia play a very serious part in the growth of Australia's standing in the planet. Social capital can help the Australian government by its aptitude to improve the country's allocation of worldwide status. Australian government is enthusiastic to expand Social capital with the help of diverse intellectual legacies while some other countries look for chances to attract them. Social capital can grow out of almost any everyday human interaction. Yet, while all kinds of interaction are important, some feed more directly into governance than do others. Again, while all kinds of governing institution might foster trust, social scientists often suggest that local governing groups, such as city councils and school boards, are of particular value to the creation of a cohesive society. (Wenger 2000, 225-246)

Pros

To simplify matters, we might think of the institutions that foster social capital as being either private or state ones. Private groups, such as nonprofits and local networks, can help to develop social capital outside the state. Even when social capital develops outside the state, it often helps to give people access to particular state resources, such as funding for schools or the repair of local roads. Here, social capital fosters trust and communication within local communities, thereby enabling people to cooperate and thus interact more effectively with government. Equally, of course, such social capital can enable people to act collectively to pursue interests and concerns in ways that simply by-pass the state. One example would be a local voluntary group that takes it upon itself to protect and clean a park or other ...