Chasing Desires and Meeting Needs: Filipinas in South Korea, Mobile Phones, Social Networks, Social Support and Informal Learning
Open Access
- Author:
- Wrigglesworth, Jonathan Wayne
- Graduate Program:
- Adult Education
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- March 28, 2016
- Committee Members:
- Davin Jules Carr Chellman, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Susan Mary Land, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Priya Sharma, Committee Member
Lawrence Christopher Ragan, Committee Member
Adnan A Qayyum, Committee Member - Keywords:
- transnational workers
social networks
social support
informal learning - Abstract:
- As in most countries, transnational workers in South Korea face many difficulties living and working in their host country, including communication problems, cultural conflicts, discrimination, and abuse in the workplace. While attempting to navigate the difficult terrain of their host country, transnational workers are physically distant from their usual sources of social support in their communities of origin. Many transnational workers live in social worlds which are split between the expat communities in South Korea and their families and friends back home. To deal with these difficult circumstances in their host country as well as to stay connected with family and friends at home transnational workers are increasingly turning to mobile phone technology as a way to access sources of social support and to engage in informal learning. This mixed-methods study, employing social network analysis and phenomenology, investigated a) how five Filipina transnational domestic workers used their mobile phones to develop and maintain mobile phone ego networks (MPENs), b) how the participants used their mobile phones to access social support, c) how the participants engaged in informal learning in the MPENs and d) what meaning these participants made of accessing social their MPENs. This study followed the explanatory sequential mixed methods design. I began the study by working with each participant to construct an MPEN of her 20 most important relationships maintained by mobile phone. This early quantitative phase informed a series of three in-depth semi-structured interviews which were informed by phenomenology. The MPENs were analyzed using descriptive statistics to identify overall trends in the composition and structure of the participants’ MPENs. Using quantitative data and the qualitative interviews, each participant’s MPEN was then treated as a case to explore how the participant used her MPEN to access social support and to engage in informal learning. And finally, I completed a phenomenological analysis to identify the meaning the participants made of the experience of accessing their MPENs. The quantitative data showed that the participants’ MPENs were populated with people similar to themselves both in terms of nationality and socioeconomic status. The majority of MPEN members living in South Korea were friends, while those living overseas were almost exclusively family members. The participants used their MPENs to access emotional support as well and information and resources needed to meet their needs and pursue their desires. The case studies revealed the unique and creative ways these women used their MPENs to meet their needs and pursue their desires as well as to overcome some oppressive circumstances. The participants used their MPENs to maintain relationships with family and friends, to engage in informal learning, and to find resources to run a business, access linguistic and cultural knowledge, find employment, and exert their independence. Three themes were identified in the phenomenological analysis: security, being there, but not there, and to get the good, you have to take the bad. Security highlights participants’ efforts to adjust to a linguistic and cultural landscape where they have incomplete knowledge. The theme of security contains two subthemes: security derived from the ability to function unimpeded and security derived from a sense of belonging. The theme of being there, but not there deals with the complicated nature of maintaining relationships with loved ones at a distance. Being there refers to the ability to use mobile phones to reach across distance, while but not there acknowledges the emotional turmoil that maintaining relationships at a distance entails. To get the good, you have to take the bad describes how being available to their MPENs often involved conflicting desires: the desire to maintain some valued relationships may necessitate unwanted communication and obligations.