본 연구는 사회적 자본으로서 취업여성결혼이민자의 자조그룹이 가지는 의미를 이해하고자 통번역사 16명을 심층면담하여 국제결혼이주부터 현재 취업에 이르는 생애과정에서 다양한 학습활동과 경제활동 속에서 자조그룹을 통해 어떻게 네트워크와 신뢰를 형성하였는지를 탐색하였으며, 그 연구결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 한국사회적응 초기단계에서는 평생교육기관에서 주로 한국어교육에 참여하면서 개인측면에서의 외로움과 한국어교육 필요, 기관측면에서의 교육프로그램운영과 자조그룹 유도가 서로 맞물려서 여성결혼이민자들의 자조그룹 참여가 용이하였다. 둘째, 자조그룹 유형은 학습활동과 경제활동에서 각각 개인주도 비공식적 자조그룹과 기관주도 공식적 자조그룹으로 크게 나누어졌다. 셋째, 자조그룹 네트워크와 신뢰 형성에 영향을 미치는 주요 요인을 보면 ‘배울 것이 있는 사람’은 학습활동 영역에서, ‘업무상 선을 그음’은 경제활동 영역에서 주요 특징으로 나타난 반면에 ‘질투’, ‘성격’, ‘공감대 형성’, ‘바쁜 일상’은 두 영역 모두에서 공통적으로 나타났다. 넷째, 자조그룹을 통한 삶의 변화는 ‘사회성 향상’, ‘일의 보람을 느낌’, ‘좋은 본보기가 되고자 노력’, ‘성장발전을 위한 동기부여’로 드러났다. 다섯째, 사회적 자본으로서 취업여성결혼이민자의 자조그룹이 가지는 의미는 ‘자조그룹에서의 즐거움과 상처는 성장발전을 위한 삶의 자양분’으로 도출되었다.
This research aims to understand the meaning of self-help groups of working female marriage immigrants as social capital. In this study, 16 marriage immigrant women, currently working as interpreters and translators, were interviewed in depth to find out how they have built social networks and trust through self-help groups in various learning and economic activities in the course of their lives, from moving to Korea and getting married to the present. The results are as follows. First, in the earlier stage of adjustment to Korean society, joining self-help groups comes easily for female marriage immigrants while learning Korean in lifelong learning institutes. The reason is that in this stage, their personal needs of easing the loneliness and learning Korean meet the institutes’ needs of running language programs and encouraging marriage immigrants to join self-help groups. Second, the type of self-help groups was largely divided into two, depending on the type of activities: an unofficial and individual-led group for learning activities, and an official and institution-led group for economic activities. Third, the main factors for building the network and trust of self-help groups differed by the type of activity. In learning activities, 'whether there is something to be learned' was important while 'whether to draw a line for a matter of business' was important in economic activities. However, 'jealousy', 'personality', 'having empathy', and 'busy life' were influential factors in both activities. Fourth, change made by self-help groups in their lives was translated into 'having better sociality', 'feeling rewarded while working', 'working on being a good role model', and 'being motivated to grow further'. Fifth, as social capital, the meaning of self-help groups of working female marriage immigrants was that 'the sweetness and bitterness from self-help groups help them nourish their lives to grow further'. Looking forward, the Korean government and local communities should take into consideration that in addition to lacking social capital, it is difficult for female marriage immigrants to build social capital in Korean society. Therefore, there should be an ongoing effort mainly led by lifelong learning institutes to design and run attractive learning programs to encourage marriage immigrant women to create self-help groups, not only among themselves but also with Korean women.