‘Social Change, Friendship and Civic Participation’

2003 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 111-127 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yaojun Li ◽  
Mike Savage ◽  
Andrew Pickles

This paper studies the changing distribution of social capital and its impact on class formation in England and Wales from a ‘class structural’ perspective. It compares data from the Social Mobility Inquiry (1972) and the British Household Panel Survey (1992 and 1998) to show a distinct change in the class profiling of membership in civic organisations, with traditionally working-class dominated associations losing their working-class character, and middle-class dominated associations becoming even more middle-class dominated. Similar changes are evident for class-differentiated patterns of friendship. Our study indicates the class polarization of social capital in England and Wales.

2021 ◽  
pp. 88-124
Author(s):  
Ilana M. Horwitz

This chapter explains why religious restraint operates differently based on teens’ social class background. It argues that what religion offers isn’t equally helpful to everyone. Working- and middle-class teens benefit from religious restraint because religion gives these kids access to social capital, which middle- and especially working-class kids can’t access elsewhere. Since boys are especially prone to getting caught up in risky behaviors that derail them from academic success, the social capital of religious communities creates crucial “godly” guardrails that help them stay on the path to college. The benefits of godly guardrails are not distributed evenly, because not everyone’s road to college looks the same. Professional-class kids don’t benefit from godly guardrails as much because they already have access to social capital through other social institutions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 20
Author(s):  
Abdulelah A. Alghamdi ◽  
Margaret Plunkett

With the increased use of Social Networking Sites and Apps (SNSAs) in Saudi Arabia, it is important to consider the impact of this on the social lives of tertiary students, who are heavy users of such technology. A mixed methods study exploring the effect of SNSAs use on the social capital of Saudi postgraduate students was conducted using a multidimensional construct of social capital, which included the components of life satisfaction, social trust, civic participation, and political engagement. Data were collected through surveys and interviews involving 313 male and 293 female postgraduate students from Umm Al-Qura University (UQU) in Makkah. Findings show that male and female participants perceived SNSAs use impacting all components of social capital at a moderate and mainly positive level. Correlational analysis demonstrated medium to large positive correlations among components of social capital. Gender differences were not evident in the life satisfaction and social trust components; however, females reported more involvement with SNSAs for the purposes of political engagement while males reported more use for civic participation, which is an interesting finding, in light of the norms and traditional culture of Saudi society.


1971 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 421-427 ◽  
Author(s):  
Millicent E. Poole ◽  
T. W. Field

The Bernstein thesis of elaborated and restricted coding orientation in oral communication was explored at an Australian tertiary institute. A working-class/middle-class dichotomy was established on the basis of parental occupation and education, and differences in overall coding orientation were found to be associated with social class. This study differed from others in the area in that the social class groups were contrasted in the totality of their coding orientation on the elaborated/restricted continuum, rather than on discrete indices of linguistic coding.


2021 ◽  
pp. 38-48
Author(s):  
Pamela Hutchinson

In Shoes (1916), Lois Weber re-examines the relationship between shoes and social mobility. Far from guiding the working-class protagonist’s progress, a pair of worn boots trap her into a moral compromise, which destroys her hope of future advancement, either romantically or socially. Weber’s investigation into wage inequality, the rights of women and the influence of consumer culture via footwear continues in The Blot (1921), which revisits the same plot in a lower middle-class milieu and expands on the theme. Here, shoes are again a danger to women, but also an indicator of genteel distress and a cheap, impractical commodity, good only for profiteering rather than practicality.


Author(s):  
Christopher Robert Reed

This chapter explores the intricacies of the first discernible class structure that conformed to normative standards of socioeconomic status in Chicago's history. Black Chicago developed a very small but distinguishable upper class, large segments within the broad middle classes, enormous laboring classes including industrial and service sector workers, and an underclass. The members of the upper class owned and managed businesses, chose housing commensurate with their status, consumed their disposable income with conspicuous delight, engaged in civic activities, and socially acted as a group apart from other segments of their racial cohort to which they traditionally held their primary social allegiance. The middle class focused on occupation, wealth production, educational attainment, cultural interests, and character. The working-class, however, formed the bulk of black Chicago's citizenry.


Author(s):  
Louis Corsino

This chapter turns more directly toward organized crime. It identifies the Chicago Heights boys and the mix of social capital processes, specifically the social closure and brokerage opportunities, that allowed this segment of the Chicago Outfit a near half century run as a highly profitable, successful criminal operation. Illegal activities associated with organized crime provided an avenue for social mobility. While these illegal operations existed from the beginning of Chicago Heights' incorporation as a city in the early 1900s, the 1920s saw a dramatic increase in the size and scope of these operations as Prohibition created a tremendous black market opportunity for illegal liquor. Exhibiting a strong entrepreneurial sense and a willingness to use violence to accomplish their goals, a select group of Italian residents in Chicago Heights allied themselves with Al Capone to gain control of the illegal liquor, gambling, and prostitution trades in the Heights.


2020 ◽  
pp. 85-109
Author(s):  
Daria Hejwosz-Gromkowska

Hejwosz-Gromkowska Daria, Kapitał i zaufanie społeczne a aktywność obywatelska w Anglii i Polsce – implikacje dla edukacji obywatelskiej [Capital and Social Trust vs. Active Citizenship in England and Poland – Implications for Civic Education]. Studia Edukacyjne nr 56, 2020, Poznań 2020, pp. 85-109. Adam Mickiewicz University Press. ISSN 1233-6688. DOI: 10.14746/se.2020.56.5The aim of the paper is to analyze the tendencies of shaping both social capital and social trust in England and Poland. The analyses of aforementioned categories allow to explain the patterns of conventional civic participation. The social capital and social trust are also important factors influencing citizenship education. Therefore, analysis comprises policies towards citizenship education in English and Polish schools.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 25
Author(s):  
Franklin Gil Hernández

Resumen: En este artículo se presentan diversasreflexiones sobre las representaciones mediáticas de laspersonas negras de clase media y alta en las páginas sociales.Éstas parecen ser correlatos de la idea propuestapor Fanon (1968): “para el negro, sólo hay un destino.Y ese destino es blanco” (p. 6). Por un lado, el libretofantasioso del éxito negro se concentra en resaltar laexcepcionalidad: el ascenso social y la pertenencia ala clase media y alta no es ‘natural’ de lo ‘negro’, es unaccidente propiciado por la fortuna, la casualidad o unesfuerzo y sacrificios inusuales. Por el otro, el conceptosexualizado de ‘belleza negra’ parece centrarse en laidea de la blanquitud como capital cultural incorporado,refuerza la existencia de la ‘raza’ y muestra la capacidaddel capitalismo para aprovechar la valoración de las diferenciaspropuesta por el multiculturalismo. Finalmente,se analizan las estrategias para crear una Negro society,cuestión que implica neutralizar las críticas al racismo, ofrecerlas pruebas de su inexistencia a través de personajesejemplares y exitosos e insistir en el carácter meritocráticodel resultado de la ubicación en el orden de clase, cuestiónque refuerza la ideología de la democracia racial.Palabras clave: belleza negra, ascenso social, clase,raza, género, personas negras.‘Black Success’ and ‘Black beauty’ in the Social PagesAbstract: This article presents several reflections onthe media representations about black middle class and‘black elites’ in the social press. These representationsare related with the idea proposed by Fanon: “for blackpeople there is only one destination. And that destinationis white” (1968:6). First, the fantasy script of the ‘blacksuccess’ focuses on highlighting the exceptionality of thesocial mobility of the black people, because the socialmobility is an accident favored by the lucky or an unusualeffort and sacrifices. Secondly, the sexualized concept of‘black beauty’ focuses on the idea of whiteness as a culturalcapital embodiment, in the existence of the ‘race’and shows the ability of capitalism to take advantage ofthe value of the differences on the multicultural context.Finally, this paper analyzes the strategies used to createa Black Society, subject that involves neutralizing thecriticism of racism, providing evidence of the absence ofracism in society through exemplary and successful blackpeople in order to show the centrality of merit in placingpeople in the class order, and reinforcing the ideology ofracial democracy.Key words: Black beauty, social mobility, class, race,gender, black people.


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