Las asociaciones de personas inmigradas a España en la sociedad redUn estudio exploratorio sobre el uso de las TIC para el desarrollo de su capital social

Resumen

This doctoral thesis is an exploratory study on migrant associations in Spain, their digital inclusion and their social capital. Following the social network theories (Castells 1996; Van Dijk, 2012), the structure of conexions and relations established between different nodes (individuals or groups) is the base of a new paradigme of society. This process of social change is enhanced by the expansion of internet. Migrant associations in Spain are weak, recent and shaped around national origins. Different authors have depicted the exception of a minority of associations with important structures and capacities although highly dependent on Spanish public administration. The public institutions, on their part, throught the European Digital Agenda approved in 2010, recognized digital inclusion as a strategic objectif. It estimates that the generalization of the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) promotes equal opportunity. In which extent digital inclusion of migrant associations encourage their social capital? The hypothesis is that digital inclusion is positively related with social capital. In other words, migrant associations that have adopted ICTs are those which have developed their bonding social capital, or the internal social cohesion of their members, but also their bridging and linking social capital. The field work involved the elaboration of a data base of migrant associations in Spain and the location and contact of 85 associations of people coming from Romania, Morocco, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia. Mixed methods were employed. Firstly, 78 questionnaires collected data about the main characteristics, the use of ICTs and the activities related to social capital. Then 56 in-depht interviews gathered information on the appraisal of ICTs. The results disclose three categories of asssociations according to their organizational and structural capacity: professional associations, with high budgets and technicians employed; operational member-based associations, with low budgets and where voluntaries carry out the activities; and latent member-based associations, with very low or inexistent budget. The representatives explain their digital inclusion mainly by a particular member of the association and, in a lower share, by specific helps from the Spanish public administration. Migrant associations in Spain make, in general, a limited use of ICTs and there is little strategy behind the use and presence of migrant associations in the web. An intensive use of ITCs, both in frequency and variety use of them as in presence on internet, cannot be explained by the national origin or other characteristics of the associations but rather by the association category and the ICTs skills of the representative. Migrant associations in Spain develop mainly their bonding social capital which is the internal cohesion. To a lesser extent they expand their bridging social capital, meaning the collaborative networks with other organizations, and their linking social capital, meaning their political participation. In any case, the development of the three social capital types is positively related with the use of ICTs. Thus, the study demonstrates that digital inclusion is related to social inclusion and higher civil and political participation of migrant organizations.