There is an ever increasing and compelling body of evidence on the importance of positive social capital for young people, and society more widely. We have catalogued a number of the most important and pertinent publications here, and will continue to add to them as new reports and thinking is released.
1). The Social Mobility Commission’s 2016 State of the Nation report, found that “wealthier students, who were found to have higher social capital, were nearly one and a half times more likely to receive careers education compared with students with lower social capital“. The report went on to state “The choices that young people face at 16 and after are complex, and this disadvantages those from households who lack the financial and social capital to get the best out of the system.”
2). Impetus‘s comprehensive research portfolio, Youth Jobs Gap, 2019/20, found that disadvantaged young people are 50% more likely to not be in education, employment or training than better-off peers, irrespective of their qualifications. Clearly academic attainment is not an indicator of employment success. Laura Jane Rawlings (CEO, Youth Employment UK) states “We are growing more concerned about how networks and social capital (or the lack of) impact young people’s futures. This report shows that localised support is vital and builds the picture of just how challenging young people are finding their transition.“
3). In their 2019 launch publication, The Youth Futures Foundation sites a lack of ‘social capital support, structures and networks‘ as a systemic barrier to young people fulfilling their potential.
4). A 2011 Australian study called Youth Transitions by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research, (Semo and Karmel) found that social capital plays a crucial role in influencing educational participation, over and above the effects of parental education and occupation, geographic location, cultural background and academic achievement.
5). In addition, as far back as 2002, OECD research, Social Capital and Social Wellbeing, stated that community networks are important determinants of learning outcomes and are beneficial in helping to overcome disadvantage (Fullarton, 2002).
6). In 2009 a University of Southbank publication, Young People and Social Capital: Uses and abuses (Janet Holland), stated that positive community networks play a role in explaining why some people from disadvantaged groups can achieve educational success, while others who lack these support networks are more likely to fail.
7). ‘Education and Employers’ research, It’s Who You Meet (Anthony Mann, 2015) evidenced that young people who have four or more professional employer encounters while in education are five times more likely to transition to employment, education or training, and earn on average 16% more than their peers who did not have such opportunities.
8). There is also clear evidence that social capital has a positive impact on personal well-being, health, and crime rates, as explored in The Social Context of Wellbeing (Helliwell and Putnam, 2004, Sampson, 2012), with benefits being felt by individuals and communities, nationally and even internationally.
9). In 2020 an Office for National Statistics paper, Measuring Social Capital, recognised that social capital is also associated with values such as tolerance, solidarity and trust. These are demonstrably beneficial traits for society and are vital for people to be able to effectively cooperate and collaborate in work environments and communities.
10). Social capital has also been recognised as a significant driver of economic growth, resulting in greater economic efficiency (Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community, Putnam, 2000).
11). The importance of social capital was also acknowledged by the Bank of England governor Mark Carney in May 2014, who stated that ‘prosperity requires not just investment in economic capital, but investment in social capital’.
12). The risk for young people without productive social capital in their lives is clear. A 2011 Princes Trust study, ‘Broke not Broken’, found that more than a quarter of young people from the poorest backgrounds believe that ‘people like me’ don’t succeed in life.
13). Future First research of 2011, ‘Social Mobility, Careers Advice & Alumni Networks’, found that half of students on free school meals don’t know anyone in a job that they would like to do.
14). Finally, both The impact of non-cognitive skills on outcomes for young people, Institute of Education, 2013, and Non-Educational Barriers to the Elite Professions, Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission, 2015, showed a lack of positive role models and low social capital affects young people’s perception of their own ability and the extent to which they value their school work.
Youth Social Capital 