Building Social Capital in Hightown: The Role of Confianza in Latina Immigrants' Social Networks in the New South

Abstract

In this article, we examine the social networks of immigrant Latinas from two women's groups in northwestern North Carolina. We explore how participants built social capital and confidence in self through sharing knowledge and experiences in intimate, mujerista spaces. We argue that traditional analyses of social capital, framed in terms of cost-benefit obligations, are insufficient for understanding the complex relationship of commitment and trust, or confianza, that characterized the social networks the women developed.