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Social Capital and Inequality

Social capital refers to the resources (such as information, influence, and status) that are embedded in and accessible through social network connections. The following studies examine gender and race inequality in access and returns to social capital in the labor market.

• Social Skill Dimensions and Career Dynamics. Socius, with A. Wyant and A. Manzoni. (2018)
• Race, Place, and Unsolicited Job Leads: How the Ethnoracial Structure of Local Labor Markets Shapes Employment Opportunities. Social Currents, with L. Hamm, J. R. Elliott, and P. Knepper. (2016)
• Cross-National Patterns of Social Capital Accumulation: Network Resources and Aging in China, Taiwan, and the United States. American Behavioral Scientist, with F. Chen and C. A. Mair. (2015)
• Helping Hands: Race, Neighborhood Context, and Reluctant Personal Contacts. The Sociological Quarterly, with L. Hamm. (2015)
• What’s in the “Old Boys” Network? Accessing Social Capital in Gendered and Racialized Networks. Social Networks. (2011)
• Social Capital across the Life Course: Age and Gender Patterns of Occupational Networks. Sociological Forum with C. A. Mair. (2010)
• Not So Fast My Friend: College Football Coaching, Social Capital, and the Conditional Effects of Race. Sociological Spectrum, with J. C. Day. (2010)
• Networks of Opportunity: Gender, Race and Unsolicited Job Leads. Social Problems, with N. Lin and D. Ao. (2009)

Non-Searching for Jobs

Non-searching is an informal recruitment process whereby people change jobs thanks to the receiving unsolicited information from their social connections. About 1 out of every 4 workers receives their jobs this way and these workers often gain access to some of the best jobs around. The following studies examine the various patterns, payoffs and consequences of non-search processes.

• Of Markets and Networks: Marketization and Job Lead Receipt in Transitional China. Sociological Inquiry, with C. Liu and V. Chua. (2021)
• The Recruitment Paradox: Network Recruitment, Structural Position, and East German Market Transition. Social Forces, with R. A. Benton, A. Manzoni, and D. F. Warner. (2015)
• Network Effects across the Earnings Distribution: Visible and Invisible Job Finding Assistance in the Labor Market. Social Science Research. (2015)
• Dual Embeddedness: Informal Job Matching and Labor Market Institutions in the United States and Germany. Social Forces, with R. A. Benton and D. F. Warner. (2012)
  
• What You Know or Who You Know? Occupation-Specific Work Experience and Job Matching through Social Networks.Social Science Research. (2011)
  
• Right Place, Right Time: Serendipity and Informal Job Matching. Socio-Economic Review. (2010)
  
• Making Gender Fit and “Correcting” Gender Misfits: Non-Searching for Employment and Job Sex Segregation. Gender & Society, with J. A. Kmec and L. B. Trimble. (2010)
• When Does Social Capital Matter?  Non-Searching for Jobs Across the Life Course. Social Forces, with G. H. Elder, Jr. (2006)

Internet and Social Connectivity

Internet technologies have given rise to new opportunities for social connectivity and for the development of social capital. This research explores the interplay between the Internet and social connections (both online and offline), particularly in the context of work and labor markets.

• Organizational Perspectives on Digital Labor Market Intermediaries. Sociology Compass, with A. Damarin and N. Membrez-Weiler. (2023)
• Is Cybervetting Valuable? Industrial and Organizational Psychology, with A. Wilcox and A. Damarin. (2022)
• The Hunt for Red Flags: Cybervetting as Morally Performative Practice. Socio-Economic Review, with A. Damarin, H. McQueen, and S. Grether. (2021)
• Black Holes and Purple Squirrels: A Tale of Two Online Labor Markets. Research in the Sociology of Work, with A. Damarin, J. Lawhorne, and A. Wilcox. (2019)
• Which Contributions Predict Whether Developers are Accepted into GitHub Teams? Proceedings of Mining Software Repositories, with J. Middleton, E. Murphy-Hill, D. Green, A. Meade, R. Mayer, and D. White. (2018)
• Do Networked Workers have More Control? The Implications of Teamwork, Telework, ICTs and Social Capital for Job Decision Latitude. American Behavioral Scientist, with W. Chen. (2015)
• Welfare to Web to Work: Internet Job Search Among Former Welfare Clients. Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, with R. E. Crew, Jr. (2006)

Networks and Organizations

Organizational practices are reflected in the internal networks of mobility and interpersonal relationships. The following studies examine how these networks vary across organizational contexts.

• Gender inequality in relational position-taking: An analysis of intra-organizational job mobility networks. Social Science Research with A. Wilcox, R. A. Benton, & D. Tomaskovic-Devey. (2021)
• The Structure of Internal Job Mobility and Organizational Wage Inequality. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility with R. A. Benton. (2017)
• Production Teams and Producing Racial Diversity in Workplace Relationships. Sociological Forum with J. Payne and L. Hamm. (2013)

Natural Mentoring

Natural mentoring refers to relationships between individuals and (generally) older and more experienced non-parental adults who take a special interest in the personal/professional development of the mentee. This research assesses the long-term impact of informal mentoring on the lives and careers of young people.

• The Long Arm of Mentoring: A Counterfactual Analysis of Natural Youth Mentoring and Employment Outcomes in Early Careers. American Journal of Community Psychology, with J. Lambert. (2014)
• Informal Mentoring and Educational Attainment: Compensatory or Complementary Resources? Sociology of Education, with  L. D. Erickson and G. H. Elder, Jr. (2009)
• Informal Mentoring and Young Adult Employment. Social Science Research, with L. D. Erickson, M. K. Johnson, and G. H. Elder, Jr. (2007)

Selected Other Publications

• Linguistic Employment Niches: Southern Dialect Across Industries. Socius with J. Forrest and R Dodsworth. (2021)
• Race, Skin Tone, and Educational Achievement. Sociological Perspectives with M. S. Thompson. (2016)
• A Multiple-Network Analysis of World Systems, 1995-1999. Handbook of Social Network Analysis, with E. L. Kick, L. McKinney, and A. K. Jorgenson. (2011)
• Takin’ It From the Streets: How The Sixties Breathed Life into the Labor Movement. American Journal of Sociology, with L. W. Isaac and G. Lukasik. (2006)
• How Whites Explain Black and Hispanic Inequality. Public Opinion Quarterly. (2001)