Sociology Article Review: Social Capital Across the Life Course

In the selected article, social capital is the framework of networks and resources that a person builds over his age by building social networks. The macro-level dependent variable is social capital in while the independent variable is the aging of people. The connection of the dependent variable to the macro-level is made by the social relationships people do overtime in return for which they get benefits and resources since these relationships are investments that people make over time. The macro-level connection of age is made by exploring the changes made as people age. Different age sets of people and changes in their social network dynamics are explored. On the micro-level, the dependent variable changes as it includes other factors like gender, closeness, density, and trust within social relationships and social capital. In contrast, independent variables become social capital in occupational settings.

The article links macro vs. micro connection in global and big picture level first by finding literature studies based on Canadian Federal Election Study that entails massive data for diversity in occupational settings and resources that change over time and secondly, the study itself is conducted on data from Social Capital USA within which there are three societies (US, China, and Taiwan). This inclusivity on a huge scale provides a macro connection in a global context. The micro connection entails data from these countries relevant to gender, age, and daily connection at the workplace, which are individual factors that are measured individually.

The purpose of the article is to explore age-based inclination on social capital since it is known that people have their values and gains from the social relations they are involved in; however, in previous studies, it has not been known what role age plays in this context. The current study aims to investigate the gap by probing into the data from a US-based sample for a certain age bracket (22 to 65 years) for change in social capital and factors like gender, closeness in relations, trust, and density. It ought to be noted that there is diversity in the US population, which means different cultural inclusion is viewed, which highlights diversity as a factor as well, not present in the previous studies.

The study area of the article is Sociology. It is said that research conducted by sociologists has made its foundation on exploring the life cycles and the factors that change or remain constant with time in a...…reliable, explained in the above sections.

After analyzing this article, my new factual, comparative, developmental, and theoretical questions would be: Whether personal priorities affect the type of investment we put into the relationships that change the social capital curves over age?

The articles findings based on three sociological perspectives are:

The structural-functionalist: The manifest functions in macro levels are social capital, investment, and age-related change benefits. The latest functions are the personal priorities that have changed for the people, even in occupational settings.

Social conflict: Social tension and inequalities in macro levels are the variations in employment levels in occupational context, social resources they have based on their socioeconomic status and ethnic background that significantly impact the life pattern.

Symbolic interactional: The social meanings in social interactions in micro levels indicate that gender plays a key role; for example, the article cites within its findings that women and men experience different social trajectories on the lines of social capital that they develop with age. The daily contact in organizational membership might be affected when women leave work as compared to those of men, who have the continuous responsibility of work and providing for their families, and therefore, would not leave work, except the change of job or being fired, creating…