• Journal of the Korean association of regional geographers
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• v.20 no.2
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• pp.163-175
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• 2014

This study is to explain social capital characteristics of Filipino immigrant women at the level of neighborhood. This research targeted Filipino immigrant women in the metropolis, small town and rural area in Korea to find out the relevance of individual property and characteristics of the community and social capital of neighboring communities- school community, cathedral community, etc- through measurement of the participants' recognition. This study reveals that differences exist in the relationship between length of residence and social capital in the school community and the catholic church community. There is a significant positive relationship between length of residence and political factors in the catholic church community, thereby having a better relationship with longer period of stay, while length of residence and confidence show a negative trend in the school community, leading to less confidence. The catholic church community holds a dominant position in homogeneity, cohesion, and the amount of social capital. According to the findings, social capital 'relation' is more closely related to homogeneity of the community, 'norms' to cohesion. 'Relation and norms' and 'confidence and politics' factors are recognized similarly in both communities, thus resulting in the recognition that decision making within the community, the share of value, and observance of social norms approximate a friendly relationship among members, and satisfaction level, emotional support, and confidence among members approach politics that members can talk about their personal matters. It is noted in the research process that the symbolism of the cathedral community as a transnational circuit behavior occurs where collective culture and personal desires of Filipino immigrant women were combined with production of social capital. Filipino immigrant women's awareness of community and social capital appearing in the cathedral community show that not only residence, along with the cultural identity of Filipino immigrant women, but also collective social and cultural characteristics, such as 'family reunion' can not be overlooked. In particular, at this time when discussion and debate on the interculturalism over multiculturalism is heating up, communal spirit and social capital based on the ethnic identity are important in that they can be a crucial path to the cross-cultural interaction with our society, therefore, a study on the social capital of the ethnic community needs to be encouraged and extended to more diverse communities, to the space of the multilayered scale.