Social Capital in the Life Course

Project Lead: Prof. Dr. Petra Böhnke
Research Assistants: Andreas Gefken, Isabel Valdes Cifuentes, Janina Zeh
Student Assistants: Sebastian Link, Franziska Stockem

This project was funded by the Schumpeter-Nachwuchsgruppe (support for young scholars) of the Volkswagen Foundation. Research object for these young scholars was the analysis of social capital in individual life courses in connection with precarious life situations/circumstances. The research focused on how social networks (informal social capital) and volunteerism/volunteer services (formal social capital) develop in reaction to socio-economic life risks such as poverty, unemployment and atypical employment. The Schumpeter Nachwuchsgruppe investigated the consequences of socio-economic inequality and thereby offered an overlap between inequality and integration research. At the same time, particular consideration was given to general welfare state parameters: it is assumed that the relationship between precarious life situations and social capital varies with the form of the respective welfare systems. In addition, analyses with longitudinal data disclosed the consequences of precarious life situations for the availability of individual/singular social capital aspects as well as for the change of social capital profiles. Furthermore, a particular focus was placed on the influence of personality traits/features and the predisposition to solidarity in precarious life situations. It is a matter of explaining the limits of socio-economics perspectives in order to understand social capital. A qualitative study focuses on the relationships and network dynamics of individuals who are in precarious employment. Our research thereby incorporates case studies, longitudinal analyses for Germany as well as country comparisons (Germany/Great Britain or EU member states) and combines empirical analyses of panel studies with respective representative populations and multi-level analyses with qualitative survey data.

Duration: 2010 – 2015
Project Lead: Prof. Dr. Petra Böhnke
Third Party Funding: Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung)