1995 - Social Capital and the Reproduction of Inequality: Information Networks Among Mexican-Origin High School Students

Attribution: Stanton-Salazar, Ricardo, & Dornbush, Sanford
Researchers: Ricardo Stanton-SalazarSanford Dornbush
University Affiliation: University of Southern California; Stanford University
Email: stantons@usc.edu
Research Question:
Educational goals and the expectations of Mexican-origin high school students, and their academic performance, and their reported social ties.
Published: 1
Journal Name or Institutional Affiliation: Sociology of Education
Journal Entry: Vol. 68, No. 2, pp. 116-135
Year: 1995
Findings:
  • Although SES had an initial influence, its effect was either reduced or eliminated with the introduction of English proficiency.
  • Language attributes proved to be the most important variables predicting friendships with non-Mexican-origin peers.
  • Bilingualism may play a prominent role in determining access to social capital.
  • Some support for the notion that Mexican-origin high school students with higher grades and higher status expectations will generally have greater social capital than their counterparts with lower grades and expectations.
  • Lower SES Spanish-dominant students in our sample have yet to acculturate sufficiently.
  • Because of language and cultural barriers, many immigrant are denied opportunities to acquire valued institutional support- even when their consciousness and their effort may reflect and pay tribute to American ideals of hard work and material success.
  • When class background and language status corresponds to tracking and course assignments, institutional arrangements may be much more responsible for observed friendship patterns than are purely associational preferences.
  • Bilinguals may have special advantages in acquiring the institutional support necessary for school success and social mobility.
Keywords: BilingualDesegregationFriendshipsHispanicsLatinosTrackingRegions: WestMethodologies: QuantitativeResearch Designs: InterviewsAnalysis Methods: Regression Sampling Frame:6 San Francisco high schools
Sampling Types: NonrandomAnalysis Units: StudentData Types: Quantitative-Cross Sectional
Data Description:
  • 205 Mexican origin students from six high schools in San Francisco-San Jose Area who had participated in two school wide questionnaire surveys administered during the 1987-88 academic year by a related Stanford University project.
  • Schools located in middle and high-income White majority areas. Students from lower-income neighborhoods walk to or are transported to them as part of district wide desegregation plans.
  • Conducted semi structured interview to determine student’s social support networks, etc.
  • 7 social capital variables used in the study:

  • 1.number of high-status adults named as likely or current sources of information-related support.

    2. Number of nonfamily weak ties.

    3.Number of school-based weak ties.

    4. Average socioeconomic level of the student’s information network.

    5. Average socioeconomic level of student’s friendship network.

    6. Proportion of all friends who were not of Mexican-origin.

    7. Number of people actually relied on for academically related information and guidance.

  • DV: Social capital (see above)
  • IV: SES, English proficiency, Spanish usage, self-reported grades, grade level, status expectations
Theoretical Framework:
Relevance:
Archives: K-12 Integration, Desegregation, and Segregation Abstracts