Young people, social capital and network‐based educational decision‐making

Abstract

This paper explores whether and in what ways young people's perceptions and experiences of higher education (HE) can facilitate the transmission within their social networks of social capital both upwardly (from child to parent) and horizontally (from sibling to sibling), and thus can potentially provide bridging capital to family members, especially in families with little or no prior experience of HE. It utilises data from a project that explored the embedded nature of decision-making about HE amongst a group of 'potentially recruitable' adults and their wider networks. The study researched 16 networks, and the resultant sample of 107 individuals included six teenagers and 15 young people in their twenties. The paper concludes that, despite the general emphasis within existing theoretical approaches to network capital on the downward transmission of social capital, the educational experiences of younger generations can be critical in shaping the perceptions of other (including older) network members, albeit not always in ways that encourage formal educational participation.

A dynamic analysis of social capital-building of international and UK students

“…Given the globalised labour market, social relationships with others with similar or different cultures may provide graduates with cultural capitals required to be successful in the long term. For example, studies by Heath, Fuller, and Johnston (2010) and Roth and Salikutluk (2012) confirmed that social networks may have an impact on attitude and perceptions towards education.…”

“…First, embedded resources facilitate information flows between people, which consequently reduce the transaction costs, such as sharing of ideas, tasks or lessons learned. Second, social ties have a substantial influence upon how students deal with academic life and change in particular (Heath, Fuller, and Johnston 2010, Hommes et al 2012, Lee 2010. Third, social ties may be conceived as certification of social credentials, as it reflects a student's ability to access resources through social networks and relations.…”

“…Several social network studies in sociology and education use social capital theory to explain how people develop and maintain formal and informal relations (e.g. Daly et al 2010, Heath, Fuller, and Johnston 2010, Lee 2010. Social…”

“…Social capital can be defined as "resources embedded in a social structure which are accessed and/or mobilized in purposive action" (Lin 2001, 12). The resources could come from students' parents and siblings (Heath, Fuller, and Johnston 2010), but also from peer-students on their programmes (Brooks 2005). A recent review of the conceptualisation of social capital by Lee (2010) highlighted three conceptual issues: the use and accessibility of potential resources, the social capital formation processes and the network orientations.…”

Social Capital of Non-traditional Students at a German University. Do Traditional and Non-traditional Students Access Different Social Resources?

“…Thus there is no unidirectional effect of parents on their offspring's educational pathways. As Heath, Fuller, and Johnston (2010) have shown, children are also able to convince their parents about the value of higher education if they attend university. Besides shaping the attitudes towards higher education, access to social capital also enhances the educational achievement of university students (Etcheverry, Clifton, & Roberts, 2001;Martin, 2009).…”