Social Capital
What is this Measure Used For?
No matter what pathways we pursue, one always needs a network of support to help along the way. Close mentors provide emotional support and deep guidance. A wide network of acquaintances might forward new job opportunities or make an introduction to someone else that provides fruitful down the road. Helping young people develop a strong network of support is vital to help them along their pathways. This measure provides information about the network that young people are aware of and feel that they can leverage to provide in a given career pathway.
What are examples of this measure?
You can implement this measure as survey items with open-ended fields.
Think about who you turn to for deep life advice and help in your everyday life. Who are the people that you can always count on for help? Please write down their names. If there is no one who is especially significant in your life you can leave the list blank.
It’s important to find mentors who you can discuss important matters with in your particular career area. Do you know of anyone you can turn for specific advice and help in this specific career area?
Here are people you’ve listed as mentors in prior questions. Are any of them also people you turn to for this particular career area?
Are there other people you turn to in this specific career area? Please write down their names. If you do not discuss these matters with anyone you can leave the list blank.
“I learn science sometimes from my parents, sometimes teachers, sometimes on my own. There are lots of things you can do and notice.”
This quote shows a young person reflecting on where she draws resources from for her aspiring career (becoming a scientist). Her answer reveals an expansive network that includes both school and home resources. This conversation may open up opportunities for her mentors to connect her to other career-specific contacts to broaden her network.
What do I look for in this measure?
When looking at answers, you can examine the number and diversity of contacts that young people listed. Having close relationships is important no matter which career paths a young person pursues. The first question about “people you can turn to for deep life advice and help” attempts to capture these close ties. Knowing this information can help you to assist youth to develop closer connections with people in their life.
It is also important to have connections in the career areas young people want to pursue. These connections can provide information and resources about the work environment, necessary qualifications, and more in-depth details about the day-to-day aspects of the job. The second question about mentors that young people can “discuss important matters with in a particular career” points at these career-specific connections. If a young person states that she does not have contacts for a specific career, you can use this information to connect her to more resources.
You can also examine the overlap between the two questions (people young people can turn to for life advice versus career-specific resources). Having a lot of overlap suggests that there are key figures in a young person’s life that influence their career pathways. You can use this opportunity to connect young people to more resources to broaden their networks. On the other hand, having a small overlap between the two questions indicates diversity in their social networks. You can use this opportunity to help young people develop closer ties within their networks.
Additional Resources, Research, and tools
For more in-depth research, resources, and tools, the following are projects that have inspired the development of our measures.
- Appel, L., Dadlani, P., Dwyer, M., Hampton, K., Kitzie, V., Matni, Z. A., … & Teodoro, R. (2014). Testing the validity of social capital measures in the study of information and communication technologies. Information, Communication & Society, 17(4), 398-416.
- Bourdieu, P. (2011). The forms of capital.(1986). Cultural theory: An anthology, 1, 81-93.
- Burt, R. (2001). Structural holes versus network closure as social capital. In N. Lin, K. Cook, & R. S. Burt (Eds.), Social capital (pp. 31–56). New York, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
- Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American journal of sociology, 94, S95-S120.
- Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: America’s declining social capital. In Culture and politics (pp. 223-234). Palgrave Macmillan, New York.