Projects with keyword: Social capital/networks

Young people with the same educational qualifications do not reach the same place in the social hierarchy, because educational credentials are never separable from the individuals that hold them. The economic and social return of educational credentials (in terms of salary and the status of the job) depends mainly on the social capital of their holders. How much social capital an individual has access to, depends, among other things, on her socio-economic background, gender and ethnicity.

The aim of this project is to examine: 1) what is the impact of social capital (compared with socio-economic background and education) on labour market outcomes of young people in obtaining their first jobs, and 2), is there any differences between young natives and children of immigrants in regard to their access to and return from social capital when they get their first employment?

In order to achieve the aim of the project, we will examine the labour market outcomes (salary and the work's status) of young people with the same education, three years after completed studies from universities and secondary schools.

The method design of the project combines quantitative and qualitative method (questionnaire - and interview studies).

The project aimed to explore the role of various recruitment practices and unequal access to social networks has for the employment of people with foreign and Swedish background respectively. The study was based in two general perspectives on how inequality is created and recreated: theories on social capital and institutional selection / sorting. The project has studied the recruitment practices and career with an empirical focus on HR staff and, the people who have sought and obtained work. Methodologically, the project used both quantitative and qualitative analysis of questionnaires and interviews. The analysis focused on two issues: differences between persons with foreign and Swedish background in the access of so-called social capital and the importance of this social capital on individuals opportunity for employment; institutional mechanisms of selection. What are the effects of employers choice of recruitment channels (formal and informal) for employment? How are applicants ranked and sorted?

In Sweden, 60-85% of all jobs are appointed through informal recruitment. The research has to a lesser extent focused on differences in the outcomes of different social networks with regard to ethnicity, gender and class. Questions about how information and recommendations are communicated within the social networks have rarely been studied. The project focuses on the relationship between the applicants and the information mediators perceived scope of action in strategies of network recruitment. What considerations are made when seeking job, and when recommending through social networks? What careers develop through recruiting via social networks and how these are affected by individuals' social background?
The study is theoretically grounded in research emphasizing networks and social capital in recruitment, with an interactionist perspective. Three sub-studies analyze links between qualifications and work: The sample is composed of both low-and high-skilled people in jobs with both low and high qualifications as well as Swedish and foreign-born men and women. Semi-structured interviews and so-called network map are the main methods.

Studies of neighbourhood effects, school effects, ethnic networks, and other kinds of social contacts have shown that social environments and networks influence establishment and career in the labour market in different ways and, hence, may explain why newly arrived immigrants frequently face difficulty in becoming established in the labour market. The purpose of this project is to study the comparative importance of different kinds of social relations. Several types of social contexts are studied and put in contrast to each other; neighbourhoods, schools, workplaces, national and transnational ethnic networks, as well as formal competence and the situation in the labour market. Hence, the project takes into account both the characteristics of the individual and the opportunities and constraints of the context.

Studies of educational stratification show that children from advantaged backgrounds (more economic and cultural capital) attain higher educational merits than others. Recent research in educational stratification incorporates social capital as an additional factor with a significant impact on school achievement. The aim of this project is to examine, in a Swedish context, how access to social capital affects the educational performance of young people from different backgrounds (class, gender, and ethnicity), through the following research questions: Which characteristics of young people affect their access to social capital? Does social capital offset limited access to economic and cultural capital and contribute to better educational outcomes for young people of lower socioeconomic and/or immigrant origin? By what mechanisms does social capital improve individuals educational achievements?