“Accessibility, Usability & Embeddedness”: Social Capital and the Status Attainment Process for Men in the Netherlands

Abstract

This study addresses the status attainment process and the associated mobility between generations for men in Dutch society in 2000. It does so by integrating the social resources theory (Lai et al., 1998) with the classic status attainment model of Blau and Duncan (1967). We try to answer the research question; How does social capital contribute to the transfer of status from father to son in The Netherlands? To answer this research question, we use the Dutch Social Networks Survey. The most important result, based on a labor force sample of 471 respondents aged between 18 and 65, was that prestige as social capital is inherited and has a significant effect on one's status. However, when including social capital in the status attainment model, education is the most important predictor of one's status. Furthermore, the higher the status of the person who helps the ego to get a job, the higher the status of the attained job. Contradictory to the theory, we found no evidence of tie strength in the status attainment process.