In an effort to better understand which types of social capital matter for certain outcomes, a team of researchers conducted two studies evaluating 21 billion Facebook friendships. The results of these analyzes revealed that a higher proportion of friends with higher socioeconomic status (SES) among those with low SES “is among the strongest predictors of upward income mobility identified to date,” the authors wrote. Defining this phenomenon as economic interconnectedness, the researchers showed that such friendships offset any other measure of social capital, such as social cohesion or cliques within networks and civic participation (volunteering), which did not have a strong relationship with economic mobility . Specifically, the data showed “if children with low-EEA parents grew up in counties with an economic connection comparable to that of the average child with high-EEA parents, their adult incomes would increase by 20% on average.” Researchers hypothesize that the lack of economic connectivity among certain societies may explain the relationships between upward economic mobility and racial segregation, along with poverty rates and inequality. America is changing faster than ever! Add Changing America to your Facebook or Twitter feed to stay on top of the news. The data is aggregated on a website that analyzes the associations between social capital and outcomes by zip code, county, high school, and college. For example, in Sampson County, NC, 23 percent of individuals’ friends are high-income, compared to 57.9 percent of friends in Santa Clara County, CA. From 2016 to 2020, the median household income in Sampson County was $42,914, according to US Census data. In the same window, the median household income in Santa Clara County was $130,890. Because Facebook friendships were used as a proxy for actual friendships rather than online networks, the studies did not provide information about the effects of strictly online social networks. To be included in the analyses, Facebook users had to have been active on the site at least once in the past 30 days and were on average between 25 and 44 years old. Individuals also had to have at least 100 US-based friends and have a zip code of residence listed. “Several theoretical studies have shown how connections with more educated or affluent individuals can be valuable for transferring information, shaping aspirations, and providing mentoring or job referrals,” the authors wrote. In the study, the researchers defined SES as the median income for the individuals’ neighborhoods and any self-reported levels of education. Those with higher SES tended to be friends with other high SES individuals, while “a percentage point increase in one’s own SES rank is associated with a 0.44 percentage point increase in the SES rank of one’s friends on average.” Although the study showed that areas with higher economic interconnectedness had positive causal effects on children’s potential upward mobility, the researchers cautioned that this interconnectedness may not be the best or most important measure of overall social capital. The data showed that measures of network cohesion, for example, were most strongly associated with differences in life expectancy among those with low incomes in US counties. Additional research is needed to better understand how these social networks might influence political preferences or health behaviors. Posted on August 01, 2022
