Social capital and the importance of social ties

1

Sociology of Industrial Societies

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
2
Social capital and the importance of social ties

• Social ties and social networks as social capital
• 2. Bonding social capital
• The importance of closed social networks
• The strength of strong ties
• 3. Bridging social capital
• The strength of weak ties
• The brokerage of structural holes
• 4. Does access to social capital depend on
  individual capital?

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
3
Facebook friendship ties among students in this
class
Key Direct tie friend Indirect tie
at 1 degree of remove friend of a
friend Indirect tie at 2 degrees of remove
friend of a friend of a friend Indirect tie at
3 degrees of remove friend of a friend of a
friend of a friend First 20
friends only
Triad
Diad

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
4
Facebook friendship ties among students in this
class
Key Direct tie friend Indirect tie
at 1 degree of remove friend of a
friend Indirect tie at 2 degrees of remove
friend of a friend of a friend Indirect tie at
3 degrees of remove friend of a friend of a
friend of a friend First 20
friends only
Weak ties?
Triad
Diad

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
5
Facebook friendship ties among students in this
class
Key Direct tie friend Indirect tie
at 1 degree of remove friend of a
friend Indirect tie at 2 degrees of remove
friend of a friend of a friend Indirect tie at
3 degrees of remove friend of a friend of a
friend of a friend First 20
friends only
Weak ties?
Triad
Diad

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
6
Facebook friendship ties among students in this
class
Key Direct tie friend Indirect tie
at 1 degree of remove friend of a
friend Indirect tie at 2 degrees of remove
friend of a friend of a friend Indirect tie at
3 degrees of remove friend of a friend of a
friend of a friend First 20
friends only
Small World Phenomenon (aka 6 degrees of Kevin
Bacon)
Weak ties?
Triad
Diad

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
7
Social ties and social networks as capital

• Basic idea is that social ties and social
  networks are resources that can be capitalized
  on that is, utilized by individuals for personal
  gain
• Social capital linked to different kinds of
  social ties
• social ties that reflect bonds between
  individuals
• social ties that form bridges between groups
• Social capital linked to different kinds of
  resources
• social capital as benefits to group membership
• social capital as access to the resources of
  others to whom one is tied
• As capital, social capital convertible into other
  forms of capital economic, cultural, human, etc.
• (Convertibility works the other way too...)

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
8
Social ties and social networks some properties
Dense Diffuse
Closed Open
Ties
Networks

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
9
Social ties and social networks some properties
Dense Diffuse
Closed Open
Ties
Networks

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
10
Bonding social capital

• The importance of closed social networks
• E.g. Coleman (1988 1990)
• Closed social networks reinforce trust
• Closed social networks reinforce adherence to
  social norms
• Empirical study showing lower dropout rates among
  students with higher social capital...
• In the family - two parents, fewer siblings, more
  parent-child interaction
• In the community fewer instances of moving home
• In the school co-religiosity

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
11
Bonding social capital

• The importance of dense social networks

• E.g. Portes (1993 1998)
• Children of immigrants do better educationally in
  schools/ neighbourhoods with high density of
  co-ethnic ties (and high level of closure)
• E.g. Putnam (2000)
• Declining trust and social cohesion in the US
  with increasing social disconnectedness of its
  citizens (Bowling Alone)

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
12
Bridging social capital

• Distinction between strong ties (friends) and
  weak ties (acquaintances)
• Strong ties, because tend to arise from
  homophily, tend not to provide access to new
  information
• Weak ties, however, tend to be more
  heterogeneous, and thus more likely to provide
  access to new information by bridging unlike
  groups
• Empirical study Getting a Job jobseekers get
  better jobs when they make use of weak tie
  contacts rather than strong ties

The value of open/diffuse networks aka the
strength of weak ties E.g. Granovetter (1973
1995)

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
13
Bridging social capital

• Brokers of structural holes
• E.g. Burt (1992 2004)
• Social networks often comprise homogenous groups
  disconnected from one another by structural holes
• Important network positions occupied by those who
  broker across structural holes promoting the flow
  of ideas/info between otherwise disparate groups
• Brokers uniquely well placed to innovate, because
  more aware of the variety of different ways of
  doing things
• Brokerage role one of high social capital more
  positive appraisals at work, higher wages, faster
  promotion, etc.

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07
14
Does access to social capital depend on
individual capital?

• In terms of access to the benefits of group
  membership, likelihood of
• Equal access to bonding social capital, due to
  common processes of homophily, at least in theory
• Although bonding social capital may matter most
  (and be most fragile) in low-resource networks
• And possibility of negative bonding social
  capital
• In terms of access to the resources of others in
  the network, likelihood of
• Unequal profitability of strong ties, due to
  homophily
• Unequal access to profitable weak ties, because
  barriers to their cultivation are greatest for
  individuals with the least resources
• Social capital a resource most available to those
  who need it least?

• Social capital and the importance of social ties

Week 8 MT07