Social Capital as a Catalyst

of Social Justice:

An Urban 4-H Youth

Development Study

~Nia Imani Fields

“ Social capital is the network of relationships that increase one’s access to privilege”

~Bourdieu, 1986

Social capital can be described as “the web of cooperative relationships between members of a community that allows them to act collectively to solve problems together”.

~Chazdon, S., Allen, R. P., Horntvedt, J., Scheffert, D.R., 2013

http://www.socialcapitalinc.org/whatissocialcapital/

There is a common misconception that equal or equitable education does in fact exist in our country.

~Linda Darling-Hammond, 2010

There are also inequities to

accessing social capital.

Access to capital, “is not equally available to all members of society of a given community”.

~Calvert. M., Emery, M. & Kinsey, S., 2013

http://indianfunnypicture.com

/img/2013/01/Equality-D

oesnt-Means-Justice-Facebook-Pics.jpg

Positive Youth

Development

Experiential Learni

ng

Culturally

Relevant

Pedagogy

Social Capital

Can increase

Conceptual Framework

Researc

h

Qu

esti

on

s??

1.How do youth increase social connections through urban 4-H programs?

2.How do urban 4-H Educators explain their programs; and how do they use their programs to empower 4-H participants?

Social Capital

Trust

NormsNetworks

Imag

eche

f.com

Mixed Methods Part 1: Survey

Explored basic trends among the group and social capital subscales:

Bonding: Engagement, Network and Trust

Bridging: Trust, Engagement 

Linking: Trust, Engagement, Barriers 

Agency

In Maryland, we explored social capital in an urban context….

Maryland 4-H youth demonstrated remarkable capacity for social capital behavior and attitudes.

o Youth felt that they could make a difference in their communities, supported in their environments, trusted other people from their own circles and from other demographic groups, had a sense of belonging to different social networks, trusted institutions and government, and felt low barriers or obstacles to community or 4-H participation.

o On average, youth did not feel as if 4-H was a contributor to their interaction with different demographic or social groups, making a difference in their neighborhood, and becoming involved with community or organizational events.

o Social capital scores were heavily influenced by youth participants’ age, length of time in 4-H, their length of time living in the community, and ethnicity.

Mixed Methods Part 2:

An interview of 5-10 urban Educators will be conducted to better understand their perspectives of urban 4-H programs in relation to social capital…..

“If we integrate culturally relevant experiences that operationalize social capital within positive youth development programs– we stand the chance of equipping youth with the tools and networks necessary to think and do for themselves”.

~Nia Imani Fields & Keith C. Nathaniel, Ed.D.

Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory for the sociology of education (pp/ 241-258). Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.

Calvert, M., Emery, M. & Kinsey, S. (2013). Issue Editors’ Notes. In M. Calvert, M. Emery, & S. Kinsey (Eds.), New directions for youth development (pp. 1-8). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Chazdon, S., Allen, R. P., Horntvedt, J., Scheffert, D.R. (2013). Reflecting (on) social capital: Development and validation of a community-based social capital assessment. Unpublished manuscript, University of Minnesota Extension.

Darling-Hammond, L. (2010). The flat world and education. New York: Teachers College, Columbia University

Fields, N. & Nathaniel, K. (in press). Our role in and responsibility toward social justice. Journal of Extension.

Nia Imani Fields

4-H Educator, Senior Agent

University of Maryland Extension

Morgan State University, Urban Educational

Leadership Doctoral Student

Nfields@umd.eduLinkedinUMD Bio