How Do Social Networks Matter in Reducing the Effects of Poverty?

Abstract

This article discusses the role of social networks and sociability in poor people's access to goods and services obtained from outside the markets. The article uses qualitative information from research into social networks of poor individuals living in segregated places in São Paulo. The results show the importance of networks and suggest that the help mediating such access depends upon the types of ties and trust involved as well as the cost of providing the help. The observed processes tend to reiterate inequalities, establishing circularities of poverty reproduction.This article presents the results of a recent study on the social networks of poor individuals living in segregated areas of São Paulo, Brazil. Social networks are analytical representations of contexts and relationship patterns that surround a given social situation. In the case of this study, the patterns in question are those related to the everyday sociability of individuals. The original study addressed the social networks of 209 residents from seven underprivileged neighborhoods of São Paulo, with varying conditions of segregation, and a control group of 30 middle-class individuals. The aim was to investigate, through qualitative and quantitative analysis, the characteristics and variability of these social networks and their effects upon urban poverty. Social network effects can mediate access to goods obtained from the markets (Marques 2008), and also to goods and services obtained through help and social exchange extraneous to the logic of the markets (Marques 2010). In doing so, social networks may enhance or mitigate social and political inequalities, even among the poor.

Mujeres al oriente de Cali: desigualdades al descubierto

“…La razón principal por la cual las mujeres del semillero contactan frecuentemente a sus más allegados es por compañía, para pasar tiempo juntas/os; luego está el pedir dinero prestado, ayuda para conseguir trabajo, favores domésticos relacionados con temas de limpieza y mantenimiento del hogar, hospedaje. Ello demuestra que los contactos más cercanos en sus redes son usados tanto para conseguir empleo como para acceder a bienes y servicios obtenidos por fuera de transacciones mercantiles (Marques, 2011). Así, la ventaja que estas mujeres encuentran en sus redes es la de poder solucionar sus problemas cotidianos, muchos de ellos asociados con su situación económica y social, pero sobre todo a la necesidad de compañía.…”

Metropolitan Networks: A Socio-spatial Analysis of Social Ties in Tehran

“…Studies of social networks confirm the importance of both weak and strong ties through exploring a variety of topics, such as communities (Wellman 1983;Wellman and Wortley 1990), access to resources and opportunities (Bian and Huang 2015;Granovetter 1973;Marques 2011;Netto et al 2015), social and cultural capital (Chua, Axhausen, and Tan 2018;Coleman 1988;Ryan et al 2008), group relations (Sampson and Groves 1989), criminal behavior and gangs (Papachristos et al 2013), and mental and emotional well-being (Cheung 2014). Whether working with the measurable outcomes associated with having (or lacking) strong and diverse social networks (Kasinitz and Rosenberg 1996;Lin 1999), or the processes through which social ties are developed, sustained, and used (Desmond 2012;Garip and Asad 2016), these studies provide insights into how social networks operate in urban contexts.…”

“…Similarly, research on the social networks of the urban poor highlights some of the disadvantages of living in (racially or class-based) segregated areas. Several studies show that poor individuals have smaller, less varied, and more local social networks, which limit their access to resources, and that these networks rarely overlap with those of middle or upper classes (Barnes 2003;Marques 2011Marques , 2015Tigges, Browne, and Green 1997;Van Eijk 2010). Confirming research on the impact of social networks on the development of trust and norms (Coleman 1990) and social capital (Coleman 1988), scholars depict how scarcity of local ties and lack of community cohesion result in negative outcomes for individuals and communities (Cornwell and Behler 2015;Kohlbacher, Reeger, and Schnell 2015;Nation, Fortney, and Wandersman 2010;Wang, Zhang, and Wu 2016).…”

“…Within cities, while some studies focus on local ties and networks embedded in neighborhoods (Cornwell and Behler 2015;Small 2007), others explore how non-local and spatially dispersed networks function and influence different aspects of social life (Beggs et al 1996;Wellman 1979;Wellman and Wortley 1990). Scholars have also emphasized the importance of location of ties by exploring how networks in metropolitan areas are related to segregation and spatial organization, showing that living in segregated high-poverty neighborhoods is often associated with smaller network size (Marques 2011;Small 2007).…”