Social Networks and Welfare Cultures
Those that study social networks have argued that network effects have given rise to a culture of poverty. When the poor interact mainly with other members of the poor population, networks can inhibit upward movement. Instead of job availability and positive role models, these connections may supply information about welfare eligibility and negative peer pressure.
This study focused specifically on the differential effect of expanded social networks across language groups. They found that people who spoke a language at home other than English were more likely to have a social network limited primarily to people also speaking that language. These social networks seem to strongly influence welfare participation. Increased contact availability raises welfare use more for individuals from high welfare-using language groups. Poverty reinforces itself through social networks when individuals connect primarily with a language group that does not advocate and/or support using welfare.
Studies such as these are important for people who work in the field of welfare policy (or any socially relevant policy, to generalize). They can study social networks to come up with the best plan for implementing their policy so as to minimize negative peer pressure and bias views from connections that affect a person’s view on the policy. This study is relevant to this course as it highlights an example of how relationships and groups we associate with can heavily affect the decisions we make, and in a broader sense, how society subconsciously structures itself.