Critical Sociology

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How Does Tie Strength Affect Access to Social Capital Resources for the Careers of Working and Middle Class African-Americans? Rochelle Parks-Yancy, Nancy DiTomaso and Corinne Post Crit Sociol 2009; 35; 541 DOI: 10.1177/0896920509103983 The online version of this article can be found at: http://crs.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/35/4/541

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Critical Sociology 35(4) 541–563 http://crs.sagepub.com

How Does Tie Strength Affect Access to Social Capital Resources for the Careers of Working and Middle Class African-Americans? Rochelle Parks-Yancy Texas Southern University, Texas, USA

Nancy DiTomaso Rutgers University Business School, New Jersey, USA

Corinne Post Pace University, New York, USA

Abstract This study uses qualitative interviews with 50 working and middle class African-Americans to explore how they use social capital resources from their strong and weak ties to obtain education and jobs. As expected, the strong tie relationships of middle class blacks provided college information, while the working class did not discuss such assistance. The working class respondents relied primarily on strong tie relationships for social capital resources, but this did not always improve their career trajectories. Conversely, the middle class interviewees’ networks consisted of both strong and weak ties who offered social capital resources that helped with their careers. Still, while both class groups had social ties that provided information about jobs, neither group knew many people who could actually hire them. Thus, while the middle class respondents had greater access to social capital resources, their advantages were not as large as one might expect, given their class divisions. Keywords African-Americans, careers, class differences, social capital resources

Introduction Social capital is valuable because, among other reasons, it is associated with economic rewards and career mobility (Lin, 2001). Social capital can be defined as the relationships among people in a social group (e.g. family, community, or group based on other forms

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DOI: 10.1177/0896920509103983


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Critical Sociology 35(4)

of affiliation) from which resources (job information, employment influence, getting hired directly by a social tie, or access to financial resources) may be exchanged among group members (Burt, 1992; Portes, 1998). The use of social capital resources can help people obtain education (Coleman, 1988), work-related training opportunities (Royster, 2003), employment (Elliott, 1999; Granovetter, 1973; Smith, 2005), a better-paying job than one already has (Torres and Huffman, 2004), or a promotion (Burt, 1998). Given its association with economic rewards and career mobility, variation in access to social capital resources creates social and economic inequality. Research on social capital networks also has found that different kinds of outcomes are likely from different types of social ties. For example, for help with financing education, finding good jobs, especially early in one’s career, and getting through difficult times (for example, layoffs or unemployment), it is more likely that one would have to rely on strong tie relationships, that is individuals with whom one has an emotional and/or familial bond, as well as individuals with whom one interacts frequently (Coleman, 1988; Granovetter, 1973). Those in close social relationships, however, are likely to know the same things. Therefore, to expand one’s knowledge of job opportunities, it is better to rely on weak tie relationships, that is, individuals with whom one does not share an emotional/familial bond and with whom one interacts infrequently (Lin et al., 1981). This distinction may be less fruitful, however, for African-Americans, because there are more barriers to their developing relationships with people outside of their close family ties, and those in close tie relationships may need as much help as they are able to give. On the one hand, African-Americans may not have many weak tie relationships who possess useful information, influence or opportunity (individuals who have authority to hire one directly), or on the other hand, even those with whom they share a strong tie may not be as willing to share social capital resources with them (Harvey, 2005; Smith, 2005). Accordingly, studies have found that race/ethnicity and class affect the quality, the quantity, and the returns to social capital resources (Lin, 2001). For example, whites frequently rely on the advantages provided by access to and career returns from social capital resources (Parks-Yancy et al., 2006). Their access often starts with the resources that they can derive from strong tie relationships such as family or neighborhoods in developing human capital, especially through educational attainment. Working class and middle class whites (Parks-Yancy et al., 2006; Royster, 2003) also draw on social capital resources for finding jobs, and they often do so from a broad range of strong and weak tie contacts with people within their families, in their neighborhoods, and on the job. In contrast, studies have found that working class African-Americans often have few social ties (strong or weak) that can help them obtain an education or employment (Elliott, 1999) and that middle class African-Americans have fewer social capital resources from strong and weak tie relationships and lower returns from those resources than whites in the same class (Ibarra, 1995). Prior research on the social capital resources available to black Americans have tended to study either lower income blacks (Newman, 1999; Stack, 1974; Young, 2004) or managerial and professional blacks (Thomas and Gabarro, 1999). However, only some studies have examined the extent of access to social capital resources from strong and weak tie relationships and the outcomes of using those resources for working class and middle


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class blacks within the same study (e.g. Lareau, 2002). This line of research is important for several reasons. African-Americans comprise a major minority group in the USA, therefore, it is important for those interested in rectifying social inequality (even within the same racial group) to determine what social processes contribute to unequal outcomes. In essence, in order for policy makers to develop programs to rectify these inequalities, studies like this one are needed to understand how the inequalities occur. Second, by including both middle and working class blacks in the same study, we can compare the extent to which middle and working class blacks draw on social ties in their efforts to obtain education and jobs. Third, we contribute to the social capital and diversity literatures by contrasting the type of social capital resources provided by strong and weak tie relationships, offering a detailed look at which types of resources are most prevalent for these two class groups and from whom those resources originate.

Literature Review How Social Capital Facilitates Educational Attainments One of the first ways in which social capital provides advantages for those who have access to social networks is through its impact on educational attainment (Coleman, 1988). Strong tie relationships, such as families and in neighborhoods, offer the mutual support and encouragement given to people who share a sense of common identity and can contribute to the development of human capital. For example, Gillies and Edwards (2006) found that the middle class individuals in their study were more likely than the working class to be members of the Parent Teacher Associations (PTAs), to encourage and give specific information on how their children could attend college, and to offer tutoring support to their children. Also, the middle class interviewees were more likely to share social ties with educators, such as teachers, giving middle class parents access to even more information and potential influence to help their children succeed in school. The working class parents, lacking the bureaucratic knowledge of the school systems and not having close social relationships with the teachers, were less likely to provide such resources to their children. The benefits one gains from strong tie relationships, such as family or neighborhood ties, however, depend on the resources that can be provided from the neighborhood, and the availability of such resources has a great deal to do with social class. In middle class neighborhoods, social ties are likely to be linked to social resources, making the investment in social relationships in middle class neighborhoods likely to pay off. In contrast, investing in social networks in poor neighborhoods may not lead to the same outcomes. For example, Young (2004) examined the social circumstances and prospects for upward mobility for poor black men in an urban setting. He found that many of the men were unable to avoid the negative aspects of their neighborhoods, which included delinquency, absentee fatherhood, and incarceration. Interestingly, many of the interviewees’ parents encouraged them to pursue their education, as a means of improving their socioeconomic prospects. However, most of the parents were uneducated themselves and could only offer


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encouragement, but could not offer concrete guidance on how to successfully complete secondary education. The parents lacked information on how to navigate through the school’s bureaucratic system and they had no influence on the school officials. They could not help their children complete school nor could they help them ‘get back on track’ after the interviewees flunked out or were expelled from school for disciplinary reasons. Conversely, Lareau (2002) studied the child rearing practices of middle and working class blacks and whites. The black middle class parents were more likely than the working class parents to discuss the value of education with their children, thereby sharing information on its importance, and, presumably, they also had the knowledge as to the application processes. Having access to this knowledge is important to individuals pursuing higher education, which can obviously lead to lucrative career outcomes (e.g. income, status, promotions). The working class, therefore, is likely to miss out on substantial benefit from resourcerich strong tie relationships. Instead of learning to learn, as middle class students do, the working class is more likely to ‘learn to labour’ (Willis, 1977). Thus, one of the first major divisions that determine class outcomes is the likelihood of going to college, because most college educated workers end up with better jobs, higher pay, and more social benefits (e.g. medical insurance or pensions) than those from the working class. It is well documented that the more education one has, the better one is presumably equipped to succeed in the labor market, in terms of career mobility, occupational prestige, and earnings (Becker, 1993).

How Social Capital Facilitates Occupational Attainments More attention has been given to the career outcomes that are afforded by access to social capital. The accepted wisdom is that those with social networks to people who know about jobs that might be available, who have sufficient influence to provide an inside advantage, or who are in the position to hire are likely to have significant advantages over those who rely on market forces and public sources of information. One of the careful studies done on this subject is the work of Granovetter (1973), who found that about half of the professional men whom he interviewed found jobs with the help of personal connections, primarily weak tie relationships, within the five years preceding his study. Other research, however, has found that working class and minority job applicants may not get the same payoffs from social networks, such that they do not have many useful weak tie relationships and sometimes actually find worse jobs, rather than better ones, when they rely on strong tie relationships like friends and family. Even middle class blacks may have more limited experience gaining payoffs from social capital connections than do whites. This may be the case because middle class blacks are often as likely as working class blacks to be strongly embedded in poor social networks, i.e. those consisting of poor and working class blacks who cannot provide effective help with job search or career enhancement (Pattillo-McCoy, 1999). Further, middle class blacks may themselves be excluded from key social circles that can offer valuable information, influence, and opportunities in the predominantly white organizations where many are employed (Ibarra, 1995). Blacks are less likely to be ‘sponsored’ by influential organization members



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who could help them gain entrance to high status or more powerful circles, possibly because blacks may not themselves be considered a potential source of social capital resources that could be offered in exchange. In other words, if blacks are not perceived as having much to offer to those who maintain close associations with them, that may inhibit their development of further strong or weak tie relationships that can potentially enhance their careers. While having strong tie relationships with lower class blacks may inhibit middle class blacks’ access to career-related social capital resources, lower class blacks are similarly disadvantaged by not having strong tie relationships with middle class blacks. Wilson (1996) argued that the absence of viable employment and the exodus of the black middle class from urban neighborhoods negatively impacted the access to social capital resources for the remaining neighborhood members, who were, by and large, poor. The black middle class, presumably, had some access to social capital resources that helped them with their career advancement, and given their neighborhood proximity, they could have shared those resources with their lower class counterparts. The loss of these employed people in the neighborhoods meant a loss of access to social capital resources that could positively impact the careers of those who were left behind, in terms of getting a job, changing jobs, or obtaining better paying jobs. Indeed, studies have found lower class black males are more likely to be employed if their close social circles include individuals with more than a high school education, who may also be middle class (Johnson et al., 2000). Presumably, these social contacts have access to social capital resources to help the lower class black males obtain jobs. Even if one’s social ties possess information, influence, or opportunity to help with career prospects, that does not mean that those resources will necessarily be made available (Harvey, 2005; Royster, 2003). For example, in Smith’s (2005) study of urban blacks’ social capital deficiencies, she found that blacks who could share social capital resources to help their mostly strong tie relationships find employment were often unwilling to do so. This was because they believed that the job seekers (who were also black) had negative employment histories and, therefore, would not perform well if given the opportunity to obtain a job. The interviewees were unwilling to jeopardize their own credibility with their employer, in the event that the referral did not perform as expected at the job. This was especially true if the referrer him or herself was not held in high regard on the job. Thus, social capital resources from strong and weak tie relationships may contribute to improved employment opportunities or career enhancements, but it is likely that blacks of any class are less likely to see benefits from these connections than do whites. Not only are blacks less likely to have connections with those who have valuable information or access to positions where they can influence hiring decisions, but those to whom blacks turn for assistance may be more reluctant to share information or opportunities.

Variability of Tie Strength and Access to Social Capital Resources for African-Americans Studies have found that weak tie relationships provide more extensive employmentrelated information than might be available from the closer familial nature of strong tie


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relationships (Burt, 1992), whereas strong tie relationships are likely to have more of a personal stake in the outcomes for those who seek assistance, including offering financial as well as social assistance. However, these findings are not necessarily the same for all class groups. For example, Granovetter’s (1995) work on the importance of weak tie relationships for obtaining a job was from a sample of predominantly white, male, middle class workers and other influential studies have focused on similar populations (Bridges and Villemez, 1986; Burt, 1997). Weak tie relationships, however, may not be as helpful for African-Americans as they might be for whites. For example, studies have found that even middle class AfricanAmericans in corporate settings may not receive the same benefits from weak tie relationships as do their white counterparts (Ibarra, 1995). Or, blacks may have to work harder, in terms of socialization efforts and taking on additional assignments, to obtain the same resources as whites (Collins, 1989). Furthermore, African-Americans at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale may not interact in significant ways with people who have more access to social capital resources than they themselves already possess (Newman, 1999), thus negating the supposed value of weak tie relationships. Harvey (2005) argued that the black female entrepreneurs in her study would likely have benefited from access to better information, influence, or financial capital if they had had more extended networks. Having access to resources from weaker tie relationships may have exposed her respondents to better business opportunities, including, for example, more knowledge of real estate options where they might have located their businesses and drawn new customer bases. Strong tie relationships may also be problematic for African-Americans. For example, Stack (1974) studied the survival strategies of individuals in a poor black community. The few social capital resources to which the individuals had access were shared among kin ties (strong tie relationships), enabling individuals to ‘get by’, but these relationships were insufficient to help them ‘get ahead’. For example, when a respondent lost his/her job, the individual knew few people who could offer job information or influence to help him/her find employment. In conclusion, the person with whom one has a social tie, whether strong or weak, may not have the wherewithal to share social resources. Further, what is shared may not be very useful for improving one’s career prospects (Lin, 2001), and those who do have assistance that could be shared may not be willing to share it if they deem the potential recipient to be undeserving of the resources (Smith, 2005). Thus, the significance of strong and weak tie relationships depends not only on access to the resources, but also on the usefulness of what is shared and on the willingness of the potential social tie to offer assistance. Our investigation seeks to address these issues towards a clearer understanding of social capital’s role in the careers of African-American class groups.

Data and Methods Our study explores the extent of the access to and career returns from social capital for African-American class groups. Toward this end, we chose to use qualitative interviewing,



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as we were interested in obtaining job histories. This information enabled us to explore how the class groups gained access to social capital resources (or not) and the effects of using such resources for educational and career attainments. The data are 50 interviews with black respondents from New Jersey and Texas in the USA. They were almost equally divided by gender (26 men and 24 women), a little less so by class (28 middle class and 22 working class). The participants were between the ages 25 and 55; most of them had completed their education, but were not yet at retirement age. This age range was selected because it is the time period in which individuals are actively involved in their careers, a primary interest of the study. Most of them were employed at the time of their interview. The two locations were selected due to their large proportions of African-Americans and location of the researchers. All of the interviews were conducted by the first and second authors. The initial 15 New Jersey interviewees came from a convenience sample, derived from the authors asking individuals with whom they were acquainted (but who were not family members nor individuals with whom the authors interacted regularly) to participate. Following the study method utilized by Lamont (2000), 35 of the participants were randomly selected. Two zip codes were selected from the Houston, Texas area from which addresses and phone numbers were randomly chosen. Using the zip codes facilitated targeting different socioeconomic areas. The potential participants were sent a letter explaining that the purpose of the research was to examine how people develop their life goals, in terms of their education and careers. The letter was followed up by a phone call to ascertain the interviewee’s interest in and eligibility for the study. About 28% of the respondents in each zip code, who were reached by phone, agreed to participate in the study. While a greater response rate may be desirable, 28% is not unexpected, given the detailed nature of these interviews. The interviews necessitated the respondents’ willingness to be interviewed for over two hours, and in most cases, took place in the interviewees’ homes. Given people’s privacy concerns, limited time schedules, and the fact that the interviewees were not compensated for participating in the study, it is not surprising that less than a third of those who were reached by phone were willing to participate. Following Leslie McCall’s (2001) definition in her book Complex Inequality: Gender, Class, and Race in the New Economy, middle class was defined as having a bachelor’s degree or higher, whereas working class was defined as having less than a bachelor’s degree. Using McCall’s simple decision rule to define class appears to be defensible based on the following: while class is often measured as income, education and occupation, the data herein asked about family income, not individual income. Also, in several cases, the interviewees’ education did not match their occupation. For example, there were several middle class men who had college degrees and blue-collar jobs that did not require the degree. Given these limitations in the data, while admittedly a crude categorization, we chose to measure class by education, as did McCall (2001). The interviews consisted of questions about how the interviewees reached their present socioeconomic circumstances (see Appendix for the list of questions). The interviews began with questions about where the respondent was reared, their parents’ occupations and educational levels. Then, the respondents were asked if they went to college, why


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they did or did not go to college, how they paid for their education, how they obtained every job they had had from high school to the present, and reasons why they changed jobs. They were also asked if they had received financial assistance from their families. While the sample is not generalizable to the US population of African-Americans, the interviews provide insight into how social capital resources can affect the careers of middle and working class blacks. The method of this study is qualitative. We examined each interviewee’s response to the interview questions to determine if and how social capital resources affected their education and careers. Our purpose is to highlight how social capital resources worked in the lives of this particular sample of blacks from different classes and to explain how social capital resources affected their educational and career outcomes. We identified between-class patterns, that is similarities and dissimilarities in access to social capital resources and their deployment. We identified these patterns by way of entering the transcripts into Atlas ti., a qualitative analysis program, and we coded the interview responses based on definitions of key variables that were defined prior to data analysis to ensure that we appropriately identified the phenomena revealed in the data and to ensure consistency in our coding. Between the three authors, the variables were discussed and disagreements were reconciled, through an iterative process. The primary variables of interest are: social capital resources, career outcomes, and strong and weak tie relationships. To determine the extent of the interviewees’ access to different types of social capital resources, we followed Green et al. (1999) who examined three methods of job finding assistance used by blacks’ job contacts: giving information about a job (job information), talking to employers on behalf of a job seeker (influence), and actually hiring a job seeker (opportunity). Our study focuses on the access to information, influence and opportunity from the perspective of the job seekers (that is, the interviewees’ discussions of how they obtained their education and employment outcomes), as opposed to the job contact perspective. Our measures followed these conventions: Granovetter (1995) refers to receiving knowledge about education or jobs from a social tie as information. Influence refers to putting in ‘a good word’ for a respondent to help them get hired or get into school. Opportunity (Burt, 1992) refers to a social tie having the authority to directly hire, admit or otherwise give a job and/or entrance to a training program or school to the respondent. Finally, access to financial resources is an important social capital resource as well, because it concerns the use of social ties to gain financial help. Coleman (1988) described financial capital as that which allows one to allay existing and potential out-of-pocket costs. This might include cash gifts, inheritances, interest free loans, free childcare, being given a car, and getting schooling paid for. With regard to distinctions between tie strengths, in Granovetter’s (1973) study, individuals in strong tie categories were family members, friends, and immediate co-workers; individuals with whom people interact frequently. He defined weak tie relationships as acquaintances, friends of friends, and friends of relatives. Our interviews did not ask about frequency of contact, therefore it could not be included as a measure of social capital resources in this study. The social ties were usually discussed in relation to how an outcome was obtained (a primary focus of the study), as opposed to the extent of contact or



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emotion between the interviewee and the person with whom he or she had a social tie. Hence, the strong and weak tie categories are, of necessity, broad. However, they mostly follow Granovetter’s designations, where strong tie relationships are operationalized as family, friends, neighbors, social club members, and co-workers (when it was clear from the interviewee’s comments that the tie was someone with whom they worked directly). This may be a broader definition of strong tie relationships than is often assumed when that term is used in the literature. As with others, however, it is necessary to make the distinction in this way because of limitations in the way the data were collected. We did, however, closely follow Granovetter’s measures of weak tie relationships, operationalized as acquaintances, friends of friends, and friends of relatives. Following Arthur et al.’s (1989) definition of careers as a myriad of individuals’ work experiences, career outcomes are measured as obtaining jobs that paid more and/or were more prestigious than the interviewees’ previous jobs, and obtaining another job at all.

Results Access to Financial Resources for Education and to Defray Costs Inheritances and cash gifts may contribute directly to a better financial situation (Conley, 1999), but access to defrayed costs (such as not having to pay for schooling, not paying rent, receiving free childcare, and obtaining interest-free loans) are indirectly beneficial to one’s economic circumstances as well. These resources are typically obtained from strong tie relationships, often family members, who generally have a personal stake in the recipient’s well-being. Few of the interviewees had inherited anything from their relatives; only some had received cash gifts; and only a few mentioned having received any loans from their family members (or anyone else, for that matter). Although some of the middle class respondents reported receiving cash gifts from their strong tie relationships, the middle and working class interviewees were similar with regard to access to defrayed costs, such as living at home rent-free as an adult and receiving free childcare. Women, especially working class women, disproportionally, received childcare help from their families, obviously because women were generally more responsible for child rearing than were men (Munch et al., 1997). As expected, the middle class interviewees received more informational help with schooling than the working class respondents. However, the middle class respondents also reported that they paid for their education through a mixture of loans and scholarships/grants; few received familial help. The primary help with schooling that the interviewees received generally involved information on how and where to apply, rather than substantive financial assistance. In most cases, the family members simply did not have the financial resources to contribute to their children’s educational endeavors. For example, even though a middle class woman’s parents were in professional occupations, she indicated that they could not pay for her education. However, they could give her information on how to apply to various schools and how to locate scholarships.


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Critical Sociology 35(4) I: R: I: R: I: R:

Did your parents ever talk to you about going to college? Oh, yes, it was expected that I would go to college. Did you have the idea that your family would pay for it for you? Hell no! I knew that they couldn’t do that. So I got scholarships. How did you know where to look for scholarships? My parents gave me some places to look and I talked to my [high school] counselors.

A middle class man had a similar experience. His parents were also in professional jobs and shared information about paying for college, but he indicated that they could not finance his higher education themselves. I: R: I: R:

If you wanted to go to college would your family pay for it? No, they weren’t doing that. So how did you pay for college? Did you get loans? Scholarships or… They [his parents] told me about getting financial aid and scholarships.

Not surprisingly, the working class interviewees received neither financial nor informational support from their families with regard to obtaining post-secondary education, primarily because their families had few financial resources to share and, second, had little information about the process of applying for higher education. For example, a working class man described his parents’ lack of informational support for his college education. I: Did your parents ever talk to you about going to college? R: Not really. My mom didn’t have a college degree and she was doing fine, so, no, it wasn’t an issue.

Had he aspired to attend college, his mother would not have paid for it, anyway. This is partly because she had limited financial resources, but also because his family had paid for some of his sister’s education and she never finished school. Those with few resources to share tend to do so sparingly, both because they have little to share and also because they sometimes fear that the recipient may be unappreciative of their generosity (Smith, 2005). This was true in this interviewee’s case. I: R: I: R:

If you wanted to go to college that your family would pay for it for you? Not really. They supported [his sister] and she messed it up for everybody. How did she ‘mess it up’? Partying. Ended up flunking out and that was it [as far as his family paying for anyone else to attend college].

Another working class man explained how he had considered attending college, but did not have the financial resources to do so. Presumably, he may have also had little access to information as to how to obtain those resources either.


Parks-Yancy et al.: Social Capital Resources for African-Americans R: I: R: I: R:

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I’d planned on going [to college]. If you wanted to go to college would your parents pay for it? Oh, I knew they wasn’t…No, I didn’t. So, did you go to college? Didn’t have the money.

A working class woman received informational help from friends and family with getting a job and they stressed the importance of going to school. But, they could not pay for her schooling, nor, presumably, could they help her with finding funding for school. I:

Were there any times when someone put in a good word for you, gave you some valuable information, or helped you get a job? R: Yes, there was always someone looking out for me to help me find a job, and they always told me that you need a good education to get a job. But, sometimes, you know, you can’t always pay for your education so you have to go back and work, and when you can, then you will go back and get your education. I: Is that what has happened with you? R: Yes, I’m still trying to get a college degree one day.

Some of the female respondents indicated that having children negatively affected their ability to complete school (thereby relegating several potentially middle class respondents to working class), and this, of course, then stunted their career opportunities. Yet, most of the respondents who had these unexpected pregnancies still received financial support from their families (usually in the form of moving back home rent-free and receiving childcare help) and most drew on a social capital resource from a strong tie relationship to find a job. A typical example is a working class woman who left college without graduating due to her pregnancy. However, she was able to live at home rent-free, her mother babysat for her, and she obtained employment through information from her friend. I: R: I: R:

Why did you leave school? I got pregnant. So what did you do? I went home and my mom helped me. She babysat for me while I worked nights [as a security guard]. I: How did you get that job? R: My friend told me that they were hiring, so I went and applied.

The middle class interviewees had some additional advantage over the working class respondents, such that their strong tie relationships also provided cash gifts and/or help with buying a car. But, even among the middle class, only a few reported financial help from their families to pay for their schooling. Further, of the 28 middle class interviewees, only two reported inheriting any property. Nevertheless, the major advantage enjoyed by the middle class was that their strong tie relationships could offer crucial


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information on how to apply to school and how to get funding for their education. Having access to this information contributed to being able to pursue and complete college degrees, and this was a significant advantage in the development of their careers. In contrast, the working class respondents, for the most part, did not report having strong (or weak) tie relationships who could offer informational resources, let alone financial resources, to help them obtain a higher education. Their lack of having social networks who could share social capital resources probably negatively affected their ability to go to college, which, therefore, limited their career ambitions. In fact, studies have found that even if individuals’ parents did not attend college themselves, they are still more likely to receive college-related informational or influential help if they have other strong tie relationships consisting of college graduates (e.g. other family members, neighborhood contacts) (Parks-Yancy et al., 2006). The working class interviewees in this study did not discuss such relationships, which likely limited their access to educationally related social capital resources. Not surprisingly, none of the working class interviewees mentioned having received any inheritance, as well. However, where the class groups were similar was in being able to defray expenses by living with their families while in school or following a hardship or with getting help with childcare.

The Effects of Strong and Weak Tie Relationships on Employment Most of the examples of the use of social capital among these interviewees occurred by way of strong tie relationships, that is, people who had close familial bonds with the respondents. Relying on strong tie relationships was prevalent throughout the work histories of these interviewees, but the ability to rely on strong tie connections was especially important when the interviewees were seeking their first jobs. The need to rely on strong ties in one’s early career is undoubtedly because at younger ages people have not yet developed social contacts that extend beyond family and friends (Granovetter, 1995). Hence, nearly all of the interviewees relied on family and friends in their early careers. Those few who did not use strong tie relationships to find their initial jobs generally found them through formal means, such as newspapers and by walking into an establishment and applying for a job. A middle class accountant’s boyfriend was instrumental in her getting hired at a large firm without yet having a college degree or experience. She was hired on the basis of his influence with the hiring authority, in spite of the fact that a degree was generally required for that type of work. I: Okay, so what did you do [after the interviewee temporarily dropped out of college]? R: Through my boyfriend, I obtained a job as an accounting assistant at [major restaurant firm]. I: So had you had that type of work before? R: No. So I went in there and then within a year I was an accountant, still without a degree.



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Obtaining the help from her boyfriend was key to her entry not only into the firm, but also the accounting profession. She was able to enter the career without a college degree and she was promoted several times to managerial positions after several years with the firm, despite still not having her college degree at the time of the promotions. I: How did your boyfriend help you getting the job? R: He knew the man who owned the company and he told him about me. And so I became a [store] accountant and then I became an accounting manager. I: Okay, so you were promoted? R: I was promoted, and then I became Controller and then Director of Accounting. During that period of time I eventually obtained my degree. I: But you were able to work in an accounting capacity for years at [the firm] and get promoted without the degree. R: Without the degree.

Strong tie connections were also important for working class interviewees. For example, a working class woman recounted how her sister encouraged her to apply at the organization where the sister worked. At the time, the interviewee was in her early career stage. This example represents access to information and influence, as her sister could tell her that the organization was hiring and, as a current employee, could vouch for the interviewee’s work ethic. R: I: R: I: R: I: R:

I worked at the [school district] as a [support staff worker] And how did you get that job? Oh, my twin sister was working there and she told me that I needed to apply there. Okay. And how long did you work there? Oh, I’m still there. Current now for 16 years. Has anything changed about your job? Have you been promoted? Yes, I’m now a manager.

Strong tie relationships are especially beneficial for interviewees who face hardships, such as after being laid off, fired, or having had a drastic change in life circumstances (Granovetter, 1995). Several interviewees experienced those hardships and they usually drew on resources from strong tie relationships to obtain employment. For example, a middle class woman described how a friend used her influence to help the interviewee get a much-needed job after being laid off. R: Whoo, I hadn’t been working for months and money was getting tight. I was putting in applications everywhere, going to networking meetings and all. I: So what happened? R: My girl came through for me. She was working at [university] and told the people about me. And, they hired me.


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Sometimes in the midst of hardships, even strong tie relationships are hard to find for social capital resources. This middle class woman was having a hard time finding a job, but she apparently did not draw on social ties for employment help, perhaps because she did not have social connections with people who could help her or because she was unaware of any help they could provide. R: Right now, I’m just looking for a job. I: Do you feel that this is a typical career path compared to others? R: I think it’s slower because I just feel about now that maybe I should be, you know, a full-time employee, and should, you know, have some steady job.

Of course, the working class were likely to confront even more hardships than the middle class, and under those circumstances, they needed to rely on strong tie relationships to get help with their situations. For example, a working class woman was employed as a health care contractor and having a hard time finding assignments. Her friend helped her find more stable employment by way of telling her that the organization was hiring. R: I: R: I: R: I: R: I: R: I: R:

I was working as a home health aide. And, how long did you work there? For four years. Why did you leave? Work became slow and hard to find, so I needed another job. Then what did you do? I went to [mental health facility], working with very retarded and handicapped patients. How did you get that job? My girlfriend was working there and told me about it. She told you they were hiring or what? Yes. She said I should apply there.

A working class man’s friend provided job information to help the interviewee to obtain a manufacturing job after he had been laid off from his previous job in the auto industry. I: R: I: R: I: R:

And was there anything that made you leave [auto industry job]? Just having them lay me off. Okay, and after you got laid off, what did you do? I went to [current manufacturing job]. And how did you get that job? Through a friend, he told me to apply for the job.

Facing another frequent circumstance among the interviewees, a working class woman’s mother used her influence to help the respondent get a job after she had an unplanned pregnancy.


Parks-Yancy et al.: Social Capital Resources for African-Americans R: I: R: I: R:

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I ended up having a child so I needed more money. So what did you do? I went to [restaurant], got a job. And how did you get that job? Through my mother. My mother worked for this lady, they owned [restaurant].

Research argues that those who are in the same close social circles (strong tie relationships) will often share similar information, so obtaining new information requires contacts outside of one’s normal social circle. Thus, one can learn about new employment prospects more from weak tie relationships than from strong tie relationships. For some of the interviewees, social capital resources from weak tie relationships were especially helpful to their careers. For example, a middle class woman described how people who knew her family (weak tie relationships) were willing to vouch for her to obtain a job that she still held 23 years later. I: R: I: R: I: R: I: R:

How did you get that job? Through some contacts. They knew my family. How did they help you? They knew my family so they told [hiring authority] about me. What kind of job was that? It was a [managerial position]. And how long did you work there? I’ve been there about 23 years.

Similarly, a middle class man explained how he obtained informational help with finding a job from a networking contact (weak tie relationship). This new job was in a different field than his previous job. I: Why did you quit [sales job]? R: They weren’t paying me all of my money. I worked more hours than I was getting paid. So, I got another job in accounting. I: How did you get that job? R: Went to a Black MBA meeting, someone told me that [the firm] was hiring. So, I applied. I: How well did you know this person? R: I’d seen him around.

Although obtaining social capital resources from weak tie relationships was more prevalent with the middle class respondents, a few of the working class interviewees drew on weak tie relationships, as well. One was a working class man who described how a friend of a friend (weak tie relationship) encouraged him to go to the military to ‘get his life back on track’ and increase his career prospects. In this case, the social capital resource was informational with regard to telling him how to get into the military and its benefits to his professional development.


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How did it come about that you went into the military? I had to go. I was fucking up, selling drugs, getting caught up in drama. How did you know to apply to the service? My boy had a friend who was in and he suggested that I go to get my life together. Did this experience help you prepare for a job or get an education? Yeah, it prepared me for the real work world and helped me with getting done with school.

Both the middle and working class interviewees drew more from strong ties than from weak ties when they needed help finding a job. But, the middle class respondents were more likely than the working class to find employment from their contacts with people with whom they had only weak tie relationships. Given their education and the type of jobs that they held, the middle class interviewees apparently had more varied social ties from which they could access different kinds of social capital resources. Access to both strong and weak tie relationships provided greater social capital resources for the middle class blacks in this study, but even middle class blacks faced the limits of not having many social connections who could actually provide jobs, as well as information and influence.

Summary of Access to Social Capital Resources and Career Outcomes Most of the interviewees, both middle and working class, used social capital resources at least once to find employment during their careers. Still, there was surprisingly less distinction in the use of social capital between the classes than one might expect. Both drew upon social networks to help them with their job search, and they primarily used strong tie relationships (e.g. family or friends) to give them either information or to use influence on their behalf. But, none of the working class interviewees in this study reported many examples of having friends or family members who could actually provide them with jobs and, of the middle class interviewees, only a few of them had strong or weak tie relationships who could hire them. One example of having access to this kind of opportunity comes from a middle class man who described how he entered a new career in banking by way of being hired by a friend (strong tie relationship). This career paid more than his previous employment in the retail sector: I: R: I: R:

So what did you do [after the respondent lost his job]? My friend was the sales manager [at retail store] and he hired me. Why did you leave there? Got another job that paid more at [bank]. My manager at [retail store] became the manager at [the bank] and he hired me.

This example, however, is the exception. Most of the middle class interviewees could give examples of having received information or influence in their job search, but most did not have the kinds of strong or weak tie relationships who could hire them. Presumably, had the respondents had such relationships, they would have used them for employment.



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Thus, a more typical example in these interviews involved access to information or influence. A middle class woman described how a weak tie relationship who ‘put in a good word’ (influence) helped her with moving up to a more prestigious, better paying job in her organization. I:

Were there any times when someone put in a good word for you, gave you valuable information, or helped you get a job? R: Yes. My current job, the person at [another department in the organization] put in a good word for me with [department where she works now], and that just led to me getting the position that I’m in now. I: Was this a step up for you in the organization? R: Yes, it was.

The stories told by the working class respondents were fairly similar with regard to drawing on social capital resources for employment, although their resources tended to be from strong tie relationships. For example, a working class man’s friend told him about a career in communications technology and recommended that he apply at the friend’s place of employment. This information was important to the interviewee’s career trajectory, as he had little career direction prior to receiving the information. I: R: I: R:

So what did you do after [he quit his previous job]? I kept looking for different ways to better myself so I found a job at [utility company]. And how did you get that job? I had a friend who worked there and he told me to apply.

An interesting theme throughout many of the interviewees’ stories was that although both class groups were able to draw on social networks to enhance their job search or career prospects, the help that they received did not always improve their career outcomes, even for the middle class. For example, a middle class secretary obtained her job through information from weak tie relationships, in this case, college contacts. However, the job did not necessitate a college degree nor offer sufficient pay or advancement opportunities. I: R: I: R: I: R:

How did you get [secretarial job]? Through college contacts. They told me the place was hiring. Why did you leave that job? It wasn’t paying anything and I wanted to use my college degree. That job didn’t require one? No.

A number of working class interviewees also had difficulty improving their employment prospects, even when they did get help from family or friends. For example, a working class man became a temporary worker after being recommended for that type of employment by his friend (strong tie relationship). He eventually realized that it was not a stable job and that it contributed little to his career growth.


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So you just decided to just go to a temp agency one day? Yes. You did not know anyone that was already working for the temp agency ahead of time? I did actually, one of my friends. He told [hiring authority] about me. Okay, so what made you leave the temp agency? I needed something that was stable and paid better. I realized [temporary work] wasn’t going anywhere so I looked, tried [to find another career].

Perhaps one of the reasons that the job benefits from social capital resources were somewhat limited for these interviewees is because, irrespective of tie strength, most of the respondents’ access to social capital resources was in the form of information and influence, but not in the form of opportunity. That is, few of the interviewees, either middle or working class, knew someone who could actually hire them, a benefit that is clearly a more valuable resource than getting job information or having someone put in a good word. Only a few of the middle class interviewees and almost none of the working class respondents mentioned having access to opportunity in their job histories. In summary, almost all of the interviewees had access to some social capital resources when they were looking for jobs, often from strong tie relationships. Given their level of education, the middle class respondents had more stable, better paying careers than the working class respondents as a result of using social capital resources from strong and weak tie relationships. Yet, the differences in access to social capital were not substantially different between the class groups. Neither had much access to the most valuable social capital resource, opportunity, and even when social networks could offer assistance, it was not always found to be valuable for improving the job situation of the interviewees. In contrast, studies of social capital access for whites are more likely to include examples of their having strong and weak tie relationships with people who could actually offer them jobs (Parks-Yancy et al., 2006; Royster, 2003), and this is clearly an advantage when one is looking for a job.

Discussion and Conclusions We find in this study that middle class respondents had more advantages with regard to the ability of their strong tie relationships to offer information about higher education. They also had a mixture of strong and weak tie relationships from which to access social capital resources when it came to looking for jobs. Neither class group, however, was able to count on financial resources from their families, especially with regard to paying for a college education. Further, neither group knew many people who could actually hire them, irrespective of tie strength. Instead, the extent of their social capital resources was the information that they could get from people who might know of opportunities and occasionally those who could use influence on their behalf, but none of the respondents could count on social capital resources alone to develop their careers. They received assistance, but not substantive help in the same



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way that is often available for whites in the USA. This was true even for the middle class respondents who had some access to social capital resources from weak ties, which, according to studies of predominantly white samples, should offer improved career opportunities (Lin et al., 1981). Thus, social capital helps, but it has distinct limits for African-Americans, even for individuals who obtain those resources from weak tie relationships. That is, we find that the African-Americans in this study relied substantially on social capital, but that the social capital resources to which they had access could help signal opportunities, but could not assure the delivery of any of them. Those individuals who were able to finish college often had strong tie relationships who could tell them about applying for college and for financial aid, but they did not have people who could help pay the tuition bills. Those who were unable to go to college did not even have strong ties who could provide substantive information about the college application process, nor who could help them find ways to pay for a college education. Both the middle and working class respondents drew on social capital resources to find jobs, but the middle class appeared to have more extended networks of weak tie relationships who could help them find out about opportunities that were not known within their own social circles. But, again, the assistance was limited to information and influence, because even the middle class blacks knew few people who did the hiring. Further, even when African-Americans reach out to their strong and, less so, weak tie relationships for assistance in educational and occupational attainment, the social capital resources available are not always enough to improve their life situations. Also, sometimes those with valuable resources will not make them available, perhaps because of previous bad experiences. Thus, our findings in this study are consistent with some others who have found that African-Americans are more limited in the availability of social capital, and often cannot access social capital even when they have social networks with people who could help if they were willing. Social capital is meaningful, therefore, only when there is a sense of mutual obligation and a sense of reciprocity. To the extent that African-Americans, at whatever class level, are not seen as those who will use opportunities well or as those who are not able to return the favor at some future point, then their ability to draw on social capital from family and friends may be more constrained, and gaining assistance from those who are more distant in connection may be less forthcoming. We acknowledge the wealth of research that has examined education and employment inequality from a discriminatory perspective, which has found that African-Americans have been systematically excluded from many career and financial opportunities controlled by whites on the basis of race. This includes access to high wage employment that does not necessitate a college degree (Moss and Tilly, 2001), attaining managerial positions in corporate America (Zweigenhaft and Domhoff, 1991) and access to public policies as a means of accumulating wealth (Oliver and Shapiro, 1997). As others have examined these issues in great detail, the focus of this study is on the extent to which middle and working class African-Americans are able to harness social capital resources from strong and weak tie relationships for academic and career mobility.


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Thus, in past research on racial/ethnic inequality in the labor market, there has been a great deal of attention to the need to create a level playing field and to extend ‘equal’ opportunities to those from all race/ethnic backgrounds. Our results suggest, however, that there is more to it than removing barriers to entry, since helping people get in may be as important as making it illegal to keep some people out. The notion of social capital suggests a complicated and dense network of reciprocal relationships in which people help each other at different times, as they have the resources available, but expecting to benefit themselves when they need it at some future time. It seems within the patterns of social networks among African-Americans that there are more broken links in the network of relationships, and often those that lead to dead ends. While social capital resources are important in the lives of African-Americans, as they are for whites, there is less evidence of African-Americans being able to count on social capital and more evidence that sometimes those who need a helping hand are on their own. If this is the case, then it also suggests that African-Americans have to work harder, on average, to attain the same outcomes in either education or labor markets, and that it is likely that their efforts take longer to reach fruition. In either case, those whose social capital resources are already more constrained may also find that they pay off less predictably than might be the case for white Americans. There are obvious limitations to this study. Based on only 50 interviews with both middle and working class African-Americans, we were able to trace their educational and job histories from high school to the present, but the nature of the sample and the limited sample size means that we cannot generalize these findings to the broader African-American population. We can say, however, that the consistency of our findings with past research suggests that these are patterns that require additional research and attention. Further, our sample comes from only two locations, New Jersey and Texas, and it is more heavily weighted toward the middle class and toward working class respondents with jobs and some social resources. We do not have within the study many interviewees who are on the margins of society, but other studies have given more attention to such groups. We believe that this study provides value, despite the limitations, because it shows that the gap between the middle and working class among African-Americans may be as simple as whether there is information about how to go to college and where to look for funds. It also shows that even middle class blacks are often more vulnerable in their economic circumstances, especially if something goes wrong and they lose their current jobs. And finally, it shows that social capital is valuable, but not sufficient, for AfricanAmericans, who may continue to need the added assistance of government programs, such as educational assistance and employment programs, to provide opportunities where family, friends, and acquaintances are not able to do so. This can begin in public school systems with predominantly African-American populations (irrespective of class), where these programs can be offered. Otherwise, advantaged groups will continue to be aided by access to networks with rich social capital resources, but disadvantaged groups with lesser access to those resources will have limited opportunities to substantively improve their career trajectories.



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Acknowledgements We thank Texas Southern University and the American Sociological Association/National Science Foundation for their support of this research.

Appendix 1) What did your parents do for a living? How much education did they each have? 2) Did you graduate from high school? 3) When you were in high school, did your parents talk to you about going to college? Did you have the idea that your family would pay for it for you? 4) When you were in the high school, did you do any work outside the home for pay? What was your first job? How did you get that job? How long did you work there? Was there anything that happened on the job that made you leave? (Proceed through all high school jobs) 5) Did you end up going to college? If so, where did you apply? What schools did you get in to? How did you pay the tuition? Did you do any work for pay while in college? What job(s) did you do? How did you get those job(s)? Was there anything that happened on the job that made you leave? (Proceed through all college jobs) 6) When you got out of school, then what did you do? How did you get that job? What kind of job is that? How long did you work there? Was there anything that happened on the job that made you leave? (Proceed through all jobs up to the present) 7) Were there any other times when a friend, relative, acquaintance, or someone else put in a good word for you, gave you valuable information, or helped you get a job? 8) Is this a faster/slower typical career path compared to others? Does that bring us up to date in terms of your jobs and education? 9) Did you receive help from your family, for example, for a car, help buying a house, paying for school or helping with childcare, inheriting money?

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For correspondence: Rochelle Parks-Yancy, Jesse H. Jones School of Business, Texas Southern University, 4803 Lakefront Terrace Drive, Pearland, TX, USA 77584. Email: [email protected] Nancy Di Tomaso: Rutgers University Business School, 143 South Martine Avenue, Fanwood, New Jersey, NJ 07023, USA. Email: [email protected] Corrine Post: Department of Management and Management Science, Lubin School of Business, Pace University, Pleasantville, NY 10570, USA. Email: [email protected]


Critical Sociology

Critical Sociology

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