Social capital of organisations and their members: Explaining the political integration of immigrants in Amsterdam

This paper studies determinants of the political participation of immigrants in Amsterdam. A distinction is made between determinants on the individual level and determinants on the group level. On the individual level gender, ethnic membership, cross-ethnic membership and social activities in the network of the respondent are of relevance. On the group level the amount of social capital in the ethnic community is important. To explain individual political participation, the paper suggests an explanatory model, which entails an interaction effect between individual determinants (i.e. organisational membership and the social network of the individual citizen) and the structure of the ethnic civic community as it is reflected in the structure of the network of ethnic organisations.