Family background splits into financial, human, and social capital that affect achievement differently

Evidence

Ordinarily, in the examination of the effects of various factors on achievement in school, “family background” is considered a single entity, distinguished from schooling in its effects. But there is not merely a single “family background”; family background is analytically separable into at least three different components: financial capital, human capital, and social capital. Financial capital is approximately measured by the family’s wealth or income. It provides the physical resources that can aid achievement: a fixed place in the home for studying, materials to aid learning, the financial resources that smooth family problems. Human capital is approximately measured by parents’ education and provides the potential for a cognitive environment for the child that aids learning. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 139

Categorization

• DEFINE: Introduces the three-component decomposition of family background, the chapter’s organizing framework.
• XREF: connects to: Human capital extends the concept of physical capital to persons’ skills. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 67; Effective parenting norms depend on closure across generations between families — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 121; Intergenerational closure among parents generates social capital and effective sanctions for raising children. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 125 (+15 more)

Related

• Parents low in formal schooling can still provide high social capital for children’s education (similarity 0.88)
• Parental human capital only benefits a child’s development when family relationships activate it. (similarity 0.88)
• Family and city life confer hidden educational advantages on privileged children. (similarity 0.87)
• Parental education only benefits children when strong family relationships transmit it. (similarity 0.84)
• Communal social capital shapes children’s development beyond family resources. (similarity 0.83)
• Intergenerational closure among parents generates social capital and effective sanctions for raising children. (similarity 0.82)
• Children need adults’ presence and attention to access parents’ human capital (similarity 0.81)
• Community social capital substitutes for missing family social capital. (similarity 0.81)
• Effective parenting norms depend on closure across generations between families (similarity 0.81)
• Human capital extends the concept of physical capital to persons’ skills. (similarity 0.81)
• Strong parent-child relations are required to transmit parental human capital (similarity 0.80)
• A working nuclear family lacks structural social capital. (similarity 0.80)
• Adult-to-child ratio measures family social capital available for schooling. (similarity 0.80)
• Declining family and community capital will reduce human capital unless formal organizations substitute (similarity 0.79)
• Adult education levels barely affect child outcomes once social capital is held constant. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Social reproduction of labor-power requires family, education, and cultural institutions #expands (0.85)
• Communal social capital shapes children’s development beyond family resources. #expands (0.82) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 176
• Social capital accrues value to others beyond those who create it. #expands (0.80) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 208
• Social capital grafts social structure onto rational-choice theory. #corroborates (0.80) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 7
• Learned family authority patterns shape how people respond to all authority #expands (0.78)
• Family structure is internalized into the superego and projected into political behavior #expands (0.76) — Frantz Fanon, Constance Farrington, Black skin, white masks, 574