The following is an excerpt from: “The Role of Social Capital in Supporting Economic Mobility” published by the US Department of Health and Human Services:

Social capital is generally unevenly distributed throughout society. Social networks may be smaller or weaker for low-income individuals because they lack family or other social connections to institutions, such as higher education, that are critical for upward economic mobility (Small, 2007). Furthermore, relationships with family members, friends, or others may be limited by a lack of ability to fully reciprocate. Relationships that are used for social networking often implicitly require reciprocity, which can be risky if the other party in the relationship also faces many challenges (e.g., lack of money, housing needs, unstable employment, criminal involvement) (Dominguez & Watkins, 2003; Hogan, Eggebeen, & Clogg, 1993; Mazelis, 2017; Smith & Broege, 2012). For example, formerly incarcerated individuals may attempt to use their social network to search for jobs, but friends and relatives may not be willing to make referrals due to their criminal justice history (Smith & Broege, 2012). Low-income individuals may also have few connections to high-status individuals or institutions that can help provide valuable economic opportunities because of factors such as unemployment, incarceration, neighborhood and spatial segregation, limited economic mobility, and generational poverty (Putnam & Sander, 2009; Smith & Broege, 2012).

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