Poverty, ethnicity and social networks

This research for the Joseph Rowntree Foundation looks at how social networks can help or hinder people in moving out of poverty.

Some of the key aspects of this research are:

• Personal characteristics, such as confidence, can be important in developing useful connections, as well as things like ethnicity, class and gender.
• Social networks tend to be ‘like-with-like’. People use their networks to find employment, but this is often into low-paid jobs which rely on informal recruitment processes.
• Strong bonds with family and friends help to mitigate the effects of poverty, but we need to develop bridging and linking ties to move people on from poverty.
• Voluntary, community and faith based organisations are important for helping people to access to cross-cultural networks.

The research shows that social networks can help people stay out of poverty and deal with its effects. For example, interviewees described instances of sharing food, exchanging fuel cards, or finding out about low-cost clothing and food outlets or free exchange services. The report also identifies some limitations and makes some recommendations, such as incorporating Social Value into commissioning procedures, to recognise the added value of access to community networks.

Making the links: poverty, ethnicity and social networks – Summary (pdf)
Making the links: poverty, ethnicity and social networks – Full report (pdf)
Social networks, poverty and ethnicity – Programme paper (pdf)