ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses five common assumptions about refugees, which could make an appropriate professional relationship with a particular person more difficult. These are that a refugee is usually or necessarily traumatized by the experience of forced migration; that a refugee is a helpless and dependent person; and that a refugee is socially isolated. It also includes that a refugee will have difficulty in adjusting to life in a new country because of “cultural differences” and that a refugee needs across-the-board support. The chapter traces the fortunes of several sets of long-term refugees, arguing that the initial disruption of previous social relations had to be compensated for in two ways—by conserving those long-standing-relations which remained, and by judiciously developing new ones. The likelihood of long-term support is small, and dependence on such support is not for most refugees an attractive option. The chapter argues that refugees may be helpfully understood through the framework of “social capital theory”.
