Organizational Social Infrastructure in Multicultural Australia: Chinese Community Organizations in Sydney

In many multicultural cities, social participation is difficult to access where participation channels are weak or absent. This problem is especially visible among older migrants, who may face language barriers, limited local networks, unfamiliar institutions, and few culturally specific opportunities for regular social involvement. This paper examines how community organizations assemble and sustain social participation under these conditions. We develop the concept of “organizational social infrastructure” to describe the organizational arrangements through which social participation is made possible and sustained. Empirically, the paper draws on comparative qualitative case studies of two Chinese community organizations in Sydney: a peer-led learning collective and a large multicultural social service provider. Data were collected between March 2022 and May 2024 through 25 semi-structured interviews, one two-hour focus group, field observations, and document analysis. The comparison shows two distinct forms of organizational social infrastructure. The Sydney Seniors Learning Society (SSLS) sustains social participation through member-led self-organization, in which the members initiate activities, reproduce leadership, and coordinate participation through shared norms and volunteer-based routines. CASS Care Ltd (CASS) sustains social participation through organization-assisted self-governance, in which structured organizational support enables participation for members who require greater coordination, continuity, and institutional assistance. The paper advances urban governance scholarship by extending the concept of social infrastructure to organizations. It shows how organizations make social participation accessible, coordinated, and durable in contexts where participation channels are weak or absent. Treating organizations as infrastructure has important policy implications: support for social participation should strengthen the organizational conditions that sustain it, including stable operational resources, accessible venues, leadership continuity, volunteer support, and low-burden administration.