An exploration of the social capital of immigrant workers in Ireland

This thesis examined the social capital of immigrant workers in Ireland, focusing on the lived experiences of immigrant participants. This approach was taken as, currently; Ireland’s research surrounding immigration is mainly focused on offering statistics and the accounts of those who have experienced racial discrimination, without offering an insight into how the individual had found living in Ireland more broadly. In examining the social capital of immigrant workers in Ireland, two studies were conducted in order to provide the results as mentioned previously. The first study involved semi-structured interviews. The questions incorporated into these interviews were based on a harmonised set of questions which were used to test for levels of social capital, as well as the inclusion of some that were introduced to particularly cater for the sample at hand. Using thematic narrative analysis allowed for the transcripts to be transformed into narratives that reflected the lived experience of each participant. Study two introduced the photovoice method, which allowed for the participants to essentially become researchers and determine the type of images that were presented in order to build the holistic image of both their social capital and lived experiences in Ireland. Overall, the results that arose from the research provided a novel insight into the lives of immigrant workers by examining their social capital. The qualitative research showed the varying levels of social capital accumulated by each individual. In doing this, the research approach explored the intricacies and details of how their social capital was gathered, how obtaining further social capital was sometimes hindered.