Men’s networks are composed of more non-kin, coworkers, friends and members of higher earning occupations.  Men’s networks tend to be larger, and posses more ties to actors in economic organizations. As such, men’s positions in these voluntary networks give them more access to opportunities in jobs, business, and professional achievement Women on the other hand have smaller, but more cohesive and diverse networks typically within the domestic sphere.  Child rearing has virtually no effect on male network composition but decreases the size of female networks.  Sex segregation in work and lack of cross group contact restrict women’s access to traditionally male dominated spheres in economic organizations. 

Gender Inequality

Blacks in the urban area had a higher rate of informal ties with relatives (78% of respondents have relatives in the city), friends, and neighbors.  Minority networks have lower diversity and size than their white counterparts. Whites had the largest networks (mean size 3.1), blacks the smallest (mean size 2.25). Of those network ties, black respondents cited fewer kin and fewer non-kin than whites did. There is a class-based disparity among blacks. The black middle class  is engaged in more formal memberships in clubs, organizations and church groups than lower class black people.  Additionally, there is an enclave economy effect in most immigrant communities where immigrants typically rely on other immigrant families for employment and financial resources. Most of these kin networks are socially isolated from the mainstream economy. 

Racial Inequality

There are two components to inequality in capital: the Structural explanation and homophily. Historical and institutional makeup of societies provide unequal opportunities to different groups along the lines of race, class, gender, caste, etc. 

Secondly, there is a homophilic tendency of most individuals to live and associate with people who share common social and cultural characteristics, and so remain within closed network systems.  Certain degrees of awareness within these groups can motivate communities to create cross-group networks which leads to better access to resources, but homophily generally restrains the ability of actors to access other groups.


Augustana College (IL)

Nan Lin is a proponent of neo-capital theories, which sees capital accumulation through the lens of an actor-based perspective rather than a class-based perspective.  As such, he posits that investment and mobilization of capital are mechanisms that can be used by individuals and communities in order to achieve beneficial outcomes.  He couples this view with an analysis of how inequality in the distribution of Social Capital affects socioeconomic inequality.  The proposition being that accumulation of Social Capital leads to better material outcomes (i.e., higher earnings, better employment, better mental health) and that inequality in Social Capital leads to inequality in these material outcomes.

Inequalities in Social Capital

Social Capital, according to Nan Lin, is the investment and mobilization of resources
resources within one's network, and is divided into two major dimensions:

- Social Resources
- Network Location

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