The intersectionality of social capital

Forms of inequality are intersectional, that is, outcomes of one kind of inequality are different for people in different locations in another form of inequality. Social capital must therefore be intersectional also. This chapter elaborates an argument for this claim for one form of social capital (measured by position generators), one important outcome (getting a good job), and intersections of three forms of inequality (class, gender, and race/ethnicity). The original position generator asked whether a respondent knew anyone in a range of occupations, and the more different occupations a person had contacts in the greater the social capital. This form of social capital does lead to better jobs. However, recent research uses intersectional position generators that ask whether a respondent knows a man or a woman in an occupation, or whether the respondent knows people in selected ethnic groups in an occupation. Results fit this chapter’s argument well.