Abstract

RAMIREZ PLASCENCIA, Jorge  and  HERNANDEZ GONZALEZ, Eduardo. ¿Tenía razón Coleman? Acerca de la relación entre capital social y logro educativo. Sinéctica [online]. 2012, n.39, pp.01-14. ISSN 2007-7033.

Social networks are not static structures; they are resources -underscored by the term of social capital- which help achieve different purposes. Theory of social capital came to light in the context of education and labor studies carried out by Bourdieu and Coleman. This paper reviews one of the central hypothesis of the theory, formulated by Coleman, regarding that social capital is associated with lower dropout rates and, generally, higher educational achievement. We considered some of the most important studies that provide evidence in favor and against the hypothesis that base their studies in three variables: single-parent households, number of siblings and the gap between family generations. Despite the wide number of studies that support the present paper, we conclude that the hypothesis cannot be fully tested and requires a more detailed disaggregation of variables. It is not clear which are the causal mechanisms involved and, in particular the hypothesis needs to be tested in other contexts and cultures other than those in the United States of America.

Keywords : Bourdieu; Coleman; social capital; educational achievement.

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