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Educational ties, social capital and the translocal (re)production of MBA alumni networks
Author(s) -
HALL SARAH
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
global networks
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.685
H-Index - 65
eISSN - 1471-0374
pISSN - 1470-2266
DOI - 10.1111/j.1471-0374.2011.00310.x
Subject(s) - social capital , graduation (instrument) , social reproduction , elite , reproduction , cultural capital , sociology , capital (architecture) , public relations , value (mathematics) , interpersonal ties , work (physics) , political science , social science , engineering , mechanical engineering , ecology , history , archaeology , machine learning , politics , law , computer science , biology
Research on elite, transnational networks has identified social and cultural capital associated with particular academic credentials as being an important element in network formation. How and why such networks are reproduced after graduation, however, has received less attention. In response, in this article I combine work on social capital and personal networks to explore the reproduction of MBA alumni networks in London's financial services district that were created in leading business schools in the USA and UK. My analysis documents the ways in which business schools and individual alumni combine forms of virtual and corporeal co‐presence to reproduce translocal educational ties. I then argue that the motivation for sustaining these educational ties lies in the potential to convert the social and cultural capital of MBA alumni networks into different types of value ranging from enhanced career progression to increased alumni donations. In doing so, I develop debates on the intersections between social capital, academic credentials and the reproduction of elite networks.