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Social Capital Across the Life Course: Age and Gendered Patterns of Network Resources 1
Author(s) -
McDonald Steve,
Mair Christine A.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
sociological forum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.937
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1573-7861
pISSN - 0884-8971
DOI - 10.1111/j.1573-7861.2010.01179.x
Subject(s) - social capital , life course approach , social mobility , demographic economics , disadvantage , social status , sociology , social network (sociolinguistics) , occupational prestige , set (abstract data type) , psychology , social psychology , demography , economics , social science , political science , socioeconomic status , population , computer science , law , social media , programming language
Despite increasing research interest in network dynamics and cumulative advantage/disadvantage processes, little remains known about how social capital varies across the life course. While some researchers suggest that social capital increases with age and others argue the opposite, this study tests these contradictory assertions by analyzing multiple indicators of social capital from a nationally representative data set on working‐age U.S. respondents. The findings reveal evidence of both social capital accumulation and decline. Social resources from occupational contacts tend to increase with age, but eventually level off among older respondents. Changes in voluntary memberships follow a similar pattern. However, daily social interaction is negatively associated with age. Overall, the results suggest that social capital embedded in occupational networks tends to accumulate across the career, even in the face of a general decline in sociability. The study also uncovers gender differences in these social capital trajectories that are linked to the distinct life experiences of men and women.