Making the links: poverty, ethnicity and social networks

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation has published research as part of its work on the links between poverty and ethnicity, and examines how social networks help or hinder people in moving out of poverty.

The research, which looks at whether this varies within and between different ethnic groups living in urban and rural England, found that:

  • People's social networks were shaped by factors including ethnicity, class and gender, but personal characteristics, such as confidence, were also important in developing useful connections;
  • People's links beyond their own ethnic community were important, but the added dimension of racism could prevent access to 'mainstream' influential networks; and
  • Social networks tended to be 'like-with-like', so while they were used to access employment, this was often into low-paid jobs which relied on informal recruitment processes.

To download the research visit www.jrf.org.uk/publications/making-links-poverty-ethnicity-social-networks.

To read a blog post on the research visit www.jrf.org.uk/blog/2013/10/social-networks-poverty-ethnic-groups.

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