SOC281 - Networks + Social Capital

Question 1

Class coordination

Answer 1

• upper class: working with lots of ppl at diff levels in class hier + work with them in diff ways
• Owners + managers also have responsibility for the “external affairs” of their companies – relations with suppliers, clients, governments, etc. With important outsiders, they must again build positive relationships by picking up on the outsider’s interests + chatting about them. many diff outsiders to deal with, they have diff interests, so higher class ppl need cultural VARIETY:

Question 2

Class coordination

Answer 2

• some knowledge of upper crust culture that is defined as relevant to the field -some knowledge of culture that is shared by all classes
+ diverse cultural forms that may appeal to diverse outsiders
• Sports talk – unifier
• Peterson: upper status have some involvement with highbrow + lowbrow culture
• What culture higher class ppl consists off varies: whole bunch of highbrow, whole bunch of middle ground
• “classless” form of culture helps owners + managers to do their work well–+ hence maintain class position.

Question 3

Network diversity

Answer 3

• Higher class ppl work with wider range of ppl, inside + outside their own companies, so they have more complex + diversified work networks + need diverse cultural resources to interact smoothly with all these kinds of ppl
• Ppl with better education + higher-class work careers build up much more diversified networks, both on + off the job.
• networks teach them about diverse forms of culture – which then helps them to keep getting ahead in work

Question 4

Network diversity

Answer 4

• Erickson 1996 shows that higher class ppl know more about a wide range of cultural forms + have more diverse networks with ties to ppl in more diff class locations + ppl with more diverse networks have more diverse cultural knowledges
• 1) The more diff kinds of ppl you know, the greater is the chance that you will know someone who can help you to get a good job
• 2) Ppl with diverse networks can more easily find important info/resources, more easily recruit new clients + so on

Question 5

Network diversity

Answer 5

• owners + top managers like to hire ppl who have good networks, + appropriate these networks to increase the profits of the firm
• wide range of cultural capital, easily meet ppl, find something in common, form a relationship, adding them to social network - bidirectional influence
• better education, network, engage in conversation in the language they understand help in higher level position, once there, gives you more chances to make networks even bigger

Question 6

Network diversity

Answer 6

• future class locations benefit from large diverse networks
• source of info + referals - resource
• importance depends on field - important in security industry
• lot of lower level jobs don’t need networks
• networks less important for jobs with clearly demonstrable performance requirements, more important when jobs call for qualifications that can only be assessed by personal judgment

Question 7

Social capital

Answer 7

• usefulness varies with context + goals
• close ties usually the ones most productive of social support, but weak ties give better access to scare resources such as good job leads
• Profits depends on what parts of social networks are useful
• More social capital increases chances of finding job

Question 8

Social capital

Answer 8

oConversion of social capital – economic capital
•More diverse network knew more diverse culture
oSocial capital - culture capital
•Know lot about lots of diff things, make relationships with lots of ppl
oCultural capital – social capital