Social Relationships Among Immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area

Students: Gigi Srisawat, Ashley Symes, Kahinu Hayashida, Lisset Miranda Roldan, Bianca Draffen

Faculty Mentor: Soo-Yeon Yoon

Sociology

College of Humanities, Social Sciences, and the Arts

This study explores how immigrants build new social connections and how these relationships support their emotional well-being by creating a sense of belonging and attachment to their new environment. Focusing on the San Francisco Bay Area, a region with a large immigrant population, we explore what life is like for relatively newer immigrants in the Bay Area. The composition of the immigrant population has changed over the last decade, as a substantial proportion of newer immigrants to the SF Bay Area is college-educated. We examine how these immigrants form new relationships and whether they tend to connect with people from similar ethnic or sub-ethnic backgrounds. We also ask where immigrants feel belonging and community, and the ways that they rely on finding and establishing these connections. We will draw on in-depth interviews with immigrants from various cultural backgrounds to uncover how immigrants adapt socially and build support networks in new environments. Using the framework of assimilation and acculturation, we aim to contribute to existing literature on immigrants’ social networks and social capital. By highlighting the challenges and successes immigrants experience in navigating their sense of belonging and developing their social networks, this study discusses theoretical implications on how immigrants create, perceive, and use ties to others.