Social Capital, Human Capital, and Reaching Out for Help with Domestic Violence: A Case Study of Women in a Vietnamese-American Community

This paper uses the social capital framework, with a focus on women's location in multiple contexts, including family, community, and the metropolitan area, and on both positive and negative results of social capital, to enhance knowledge about abused women's patterns of seeking help. Data from in-depth interviews with 62 abused women living in one Vietnamese-American community indicate that social capital in the immigrant community can be a source of help, but can also limit women's connecting with a full range of potential help providers. Family and friends give much needed emotional and material help but often encourage women not to use the legal system. Religious settings can bring comfort but also reinforce beliefs that women should acquiescence to violence to maintain an intact, harmonious family. Although the immigrant community affords benefits from solidarity, it also discourages women from challenging traditional gender arrangements by asking for help with domestic violence. Strategies to increase access to help, and for community education, can enable women to reach out for a variety of types of assistance before and after violence becomes extreme.