The Rich tend to have more connections than the Poor
There are many differences in the way the rich and poor react to certain events in their lives. When faced with the serious event of job loss the differences between the two socio-economic brackets are greatly emphasized. A study found that when those who have a higher socioeconomic status are threatened with job loss they tended to widen their social networks to be larger and more diverse. On the contrary, those who report having a low socio-economic status were inclined to shrink their social networks by remembering their networks as smaller and less diverse, compared to when there was no threat of job loss. This discrepancy between the two economic brackets has the potential to contribute to the long-term job displacement of low-income individuals. This is because when the people with a higher income expand their network they allow themselves to have more access to weak ties. People tend to have more success in finding jobs through weak ties such as acquaintances rather than a strong tie such as close personal contacts.
As discussed in lecture, we found that weak ties are much better when it comes to helping one find a job because acquaintances can be local bridges to a whole other network that one would not know about if they looked only in their close circle of friends. This is because you are more likely to know the same people in your close circle of friends however, you don’t know all the friends or weak ties of your friends and the opportunities and resources they may have, which is why weak ties are valuable when seeking out employment. Therefore, when the article talks about how lower-income people shrink their social networks when faced with job loss, it hurts them in the long run because smaller networks mean fewer connections and fewer opportunities to find employment. While higher-income people are at an advantage because they have a larger network with more weak ties. This study supports the common saying the rich get richer and the poor get poorer because of their different responses to not having job security.
Link: https://www.forbes.com/sites/datafreaks/2015/01/21/how-social-networks-can-keep-the-poor-down-and-the-rich-up/#1a027f196af2