Intergenerational Closure Research Articles

Beyond Social Capital: Spatial Dynamics of Collective Efficacy for Children

We propose a theoretical framework on the structural sources and spatially embedded nature of three mechanisms that produce collective efficacy for children. Using survey data collected in 1995 from 8,782 Chicago residents, we examine variations in intergenerational closure, reciprocal local exchange, and shared expectations for informal social control across 342 neighborhoods. Adjusting for respondents' attributes, we assess the effects of neighborhood characteristics measured in the 1990 census and the role of spatial interdependence. The results show that residential stability and concentrated affluence, more so than poverty and racial/ethnic composition, predict intergenerational closure and reciprocal exchange. Concentrated disadvantage, by contrast, is associated with sharply lower expectations for shared child control. The importance of spatial dynamics in generating collective efficacy for children is highlighted-proximity to areas high in closure, exchange, and control bestows an advantage above and beyond the structural characteristics of a given neighborhood. Moreover, spatial advantages are much more likely to accrue to white neighborhoods than to black neighborhoods

Opening the Debate on Closure and Schooling Outcomes: Comment on Morgan and Sorensen

M organ and Sorensen (1999, henceforward M&S) provide an interesting and creative examination of Coleman's theory of intergenerational closure. In a previous study (Carbonaro 1998), I used the same data to examine the same issues that M&S examine, and I came to different conclusions. In this comment, I discuss three main issues that shed further light on the concept and effects of intergenerational closure: (1) How does closure work at the individual and the school levels? (2) Why do M&S and I have discrepant findings? (3) Are the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 (NELS) data adequate for testing Coleman's theory, and how might better data further our knowledge on this topic?

A Little Help from My Friend's Parents: Intergenerational Closure and Educational Outcomes

Coleman's theory of social capital predicts that students who have high levels of intergenerational closure -that is, whose parents know more of their children's friends' parents- will have better educational outcomes than will students with low levels of intergenerational closure. This study used data from the National Education Longitudinal Study of 1988 to test whether intergenerational closure affects children's educational outcomes. The main findings were that closure was positively associated with mathematics achievement, but not significantly associated with achievement in any other subject, closure was not significantly associated with 12th-grade grade point averages, and students with more closure were less likely to drop out of high school by the 12th grade.

The Implications of Intergenerational Class Mobility for Class Theory: A Comment on Western

Focusing on the relative permeability of particular class boundaries (defined by Wright's class schema), Western's (1994) analysis does not draw out the most critical implications of mobility patterns for class theory - namely, whether classes actually exist as relatively cohesive social entities with common life experiences. Wright's class system is not even remotely marked by intergenerational social closure, nor are presumed class advantages commonly transmitted across generations. The lack of intergenerational class structuration undermines a key tenet of class theory