Glossary of Concepts and Terms Associated with Stanton-Salazars Social Capital Framework for the Study of Social Inequality

and Social Reproduction among Low-status Students and Youth Prepared by Ricardo D. Stanton-Salazar
Version: February 28, 2013 [See actual published source for precise quoting of concepts, terms and definitions.]

social capital capital (Marx, Nan Lin) social structure empowerment social capital institutional agent (Table 1: Different kinds of institutional agents) critical consciousness empowerment agent resources (social capital consists of resources) institutional support multiplex relations alienation alienated embeddedness counterstratification bicultural network orientation decoding the system coping strategies help-seeking orientation

Glossary Stanton-Salazar

social capital: consists of resources and key forms of institutional support embedded in a multilayered system of social structures--beginning with a fundamental network-analytic structure (i.e., relationships, networks, and associations as social mediums) which, in turn, is embedded in complex and usually hierarchical structures found in formal and complex organizations and institutions (e.g., schools, universities, firms, corporations).
Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011). A social capital framework for the study of institutional agents and of the empowerment of low-status youth. Youth & Society 43 (3), 1066-1109. http://yas.sagepub.com/content/43/3/1066.short

Following Bourdieu, social capital is primarily a mechanism of privilege and domination, precisely because it is embedded in hierarchical, integrated, and reproductive social structures (i.e., emphasis here on social structures which make up systems of stratification: race, class, and gender). Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011) Social Capital & Social Structure
Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011)

Social capital consists of resources and key forms of institutional support embedded in a multilayered system of social structures--beginning with a fundamental network-analytic structure (i.e., relationships, networks, and associations as social mediums) which, in turn, is embedded in complex and usually hierarchical structures found in formal and complex organizations and institutions (e.g., schools, universities, firms, corporations). In the framework presented here, resources are most directly embedded in a social medium, in a relationship or network, with this social medium characterized by two basic sets of structural properties: (i), its configurational properties (e.g., strength of tie or relationship; density of network), and (ii), its integrative properties (e.g., mutual investment in relationship, trust, norm of reciprocity). In turn, a social medium and its structural properties are embedded in (and are affected by) larger, more complex social structures, usually hierarchical in nature (e.g., social class, gender hierarchy, racial hierarchy). [Note: these hierarchical social structures are embedded in the principal overlapping systems of stratification in society: class, race, and patriarchy].

Glossary Stanton-Salazar

Social Structure At this level of analysis, Lin (2001) defines social structure as consisting of positions that (i), possess differential amounts of one or more types of valued resources, (ii), are hierarchically related relative to the control of and access to resources, (iii), share certain rules and procedures in the use of the resources, and (iv), are entrusted to institutional agents who act on these rules and procedures (p. 33).
Lin, N. (2001). Social capital: A theory of social structure and action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[Hierarchical] social structureat the micro, organizational, institutional, and community levels-- is the motor that propels all relationships, whether between individuals, or between groups in society; it is social structure that makes relationships resource-generating, thus, enduring. In another work (Stanton-Salazar, 2004, p. 27), I convey the dynamics of hierarchy and social structure as they affect relationships and networks: The rules of [social structure] facilitate forms of solidarity and instant membership in community among those who occupy similar locations in the hierarchy. Thus, actors are able to immediately connect with resourceful others by activating social structure (i.e., by accelerating the motor), by adhering to the rules of hierarchy, [by communicating via the same discourse], by identifying their location in the larger social organization and establishing legitimate relationship. On the basis of this social structure, actors are then able to advance the investment process on a more personal level and to sooner or later turn this investment into forms of support that facilitate the accomplishment of personal or collective goals (e.g., admission into the university; moving into a principalship of a school through connections).
Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2004). Social capital among working-class minority students. In M. A. Gibson, P. Gndara, & J. P. Koyama (Eds.), School Connections: U.S. Mexican Youth, Peers, and School Achievement. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University.

[Note: The rules of [social structure] facilitate forms of solidarity and instant membership identifying each others location in larger social structures of society: o social class origin (e.g., upper middle class) o racial/ethnic group in a racialized society o gender within our patriarchal society]

Glossary Stanton-Salazar

Social structure & Exclusion of the other Social structure also conveys to institutional agents in high-status positions the established rules for the allocation of resources to those lower in one or more principal hierarchies (e.g. age, credentials, socioeconomic status, race). In the context of the school and its social structures, teachers and school personnel, usually in an unconscious and uncritical manner, regularly gravitate toward and reward those students (e.g., grades, knowledge funds) who exhibit highstatus social characteristics (race, gender, class background), and who successfully exercises the proper discourse [or display the right cultural capital]thus, signaling the students internalization of the schools total socialization agenda (Porter, 1976; Bowles & Gintis, 1976; Bourdieu & Passerson, 1977). Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011)

Glossary Stanton-Salazar

Social Structures in Society, the School & the Classroom [Notes by R. D. Stanton-Salazar, Ph.D., 2013] Premises: social behavior in society is patterned, or organized or structured; just like our way of speaking English is patterned---guided by deep linguistic structures, and then manifested through everyday speech. Sociologists (like linguists) work to identify social patterns and to figure what determines them (tacit rules, and when they followed and not followed); people and groups regularly act in predictable ways; there is a good deal of social conditioning, or condition behavior in society; of course, people and groups, do exercise agency, or forms of consciousness and behavior that is innovative and strategic; thus, social behavior is the product of both structure and agency. Key assumption 1: social structures are not directly observable; require a special kind of secondary discourse (a Discourse designed to provide a mode of analysis oriented toward viewing hidden functions (purposes) and consequences of socially-patterned behavior) Key assumption 2: patterned relations at the interpersonal level (in a particular contexte.g., the classroom) is LINKED with patterned relations at the societal level; e.g., domestic violence in the home is linked to male supremacy throughout society (i.e., patriarchy); the way we organize manufacturing or production is linked to the interests of those who control our economic system) Key assumption 3: it is common for people, organizations, or institutions to set rules and try to control and regulate the behavior of others, and this is usually accompanied by official justifications or rationales for such controls; OFFICIAL RULES ARE OFTEN UNDERGIRDED BY HIDDEN OR TACIT RULES (schemas) that really drive social interaction; however, people and institutions are rarely conscious or devoted to examining the hidden consequences of organizational policies/norms and patterned relations (the hidden consequences of the hidden schemas). When people are motivated to examine and expose the hidden schemas and their consequences, it is usually those who suffer greatly from them. Key assumption 4: most wide-spread ideologies in society exist to mask the hidden consequences of social structures (e.g., ? The U.S. is the premiere model of democracy in the world). SEE: Pierre Bourdieu, Hegemony, Internalized Oppression, & Symbolic Violence [on SCRIBD]: http://www.scribd.com/doc/95121340/Pierre-Bourdieu-Hegemony-Internalized-OppressionSymbolic-Violence

Glossary Stanton-Salazar

Social capital as defined by Nan Lin & Pierre Bourdieu Lin, Nan (1999). Building a Network Theory of Social Capital. CONNECTIONS 22(1): 28-51
(Nan Lin, Dept. of Sociology, Duke University)

Therefore, social capital can be defined as resources embedded in a social structure which are accessed and/or mobilized in purposive actions. By this definition, the notion of social capital contains three ingredients: (1) resources embedded in a social structure----embeddedness; (2) accessibility to such social resources by individuals--- opportunity (accessibility); (3) and use or mobilization of such social resources by individuals in purposive actions-action-oriented (use) aspects. Thus conceived, social capital contains three elements intersecting structure and action: the structural (embeddedness), opportunity (accessibility) and action-oriented (use) aspects. Bourdieu, Pierre (1986) The forms of capital. In J. Richardson (Ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education (New York, Greenwood), 241-258. Social capital is the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition or in other words, to membership in a group[11] which provides each of its members with the backing of the collectivity-owned capital, a credential which entitles them to credit, in the various senses of the word. These relationships may exist only in the practical state, in material and/or symbolic exchanges which help to maintain them. They may also be socially instituted and guaranteed by the application of a common name (the name of a family, a class, or a tribe or of a school, a party, etc.) and by a whole set of instituting acts designed simultaneously to form and inform those who undergo them; in this case, they are more or less really enacted and so maintained and reinforced, in exchanges. Being based on indissolubly material and symbolic exchanges, the establishment and maintenance of which presuppose reacknowledgment of proximity, they are also partially irreducible to objective relations of proximity in physical (geographical) space or even in economic and social space.

Glossary Stanton-Salazar

GLOSSARY continued empowerment social capital: captures the possibility that institutional agents can act, individually or collectivelywithin the larger hierarchical structure--in ways that redistribute resources according to motives articulated in the service of social justice and counterstratification (Stanton-Salazar, 2001). Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011) institutional agent: (1) defined as an individual who occupies one or more hierarchical positions of relatively high-status and authority. Such an individual, situated in an adolescents social network, manifests his or her potential role as an institutional agent, when, on behalf of the adolescent, he or she acts to directly transmit, or negotiate the transmission of, highly valued resources (e.g., high school course requirements for admission to four-year universities).
Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011)

(2) An institutional agent can be defined as an individual who occupies one or more hierarchical positions of relatively high-status, either within a society or in an institution (or an organization). Thus, such an individual is accustomed to occupying positions of status and of authority, and managing and accessing highly-valued resources, exercising key forms of power, and mobilizing his or her reputation in purposive action (see Lin, 2001, p. 37). Relative to others, the individual possesses a high degree of human, cultural, and social capital. The individuals or actors potential role as institutional agent becomes manifest when, on behalf of another, he or she acts to directly transmit, or negotiate the transmission of, highly-valued institutional support, defined for now in terms of those resources, opportunities, privileges, and services which are highly valued, yet differentially allocated within any organization or society that is invested in social inequality and in hierarchical forms of control and organization. Similarly, the actor becomes an agent when other major forms of institutional support are mobilized to benefit another, such as when he or she uses his or her position, status and authority, or exercises key forms of power, and/or uses his or her reputation, in a strategic and supportive fashion. Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011) critical consciousness (conscientizacao): defined as the ability to perceive and interrogate the social, political, and economic forms of oppression that shape ones life and to take collective action against such elements of society (or social structure). [Freires (1993a)]
Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011)

empowerment agent: defined not only in terms of their capacity to provide low-status youth with highly valued institutional resources, but also in terms of their commitment to empower youth with a critical consciousness, and with the means to transform themselves, their communities, and society as a whole.
Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011)

[See Stanton-Salazar (2011) for the five characteristics that define an empowerment agent]

Glossary Stanton-Salazar

empowerment: defined as the active participatory process of gaining resources, competencies, and key forms of power necessary for gaining control over ones life and accomplishing important life goals (Maton & Salem, 1995). Power is understood as the capability of persons carrying out their will, even in the face of obstacles, which may include other people and groups vying for the same resources. By definition, empowerment is a transitional and transformative process, from a state of little power and an existence framed by obstacles, forms of oppression, and blocked access to societal resources to a state where individuals and communities become socially engaged in ways where they strategically mobilize to access the resources and to exercise power so as to selfdetermine their very destiny. Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011) institutional support: (1) refers to key forms of social support which function to help children and adolescents become effective participants within mainstream institutional spheres, particularly the school system. Such support enables young people to become successful consumers and entrepreneurs within the mainstream marketplace, to effectively manage the stresses of participating in mainstream settings, and in general, to exercise greater control over their lives and their futures.
Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (1997) A social capital framework for understanding the socialization of racial minority children and youth. Harvard Educational Review, 67(1), 1-40.

(2) (institutional support) refers to key resources and forms of social support which function to ensure children and adolescents become effective participants within institutional spheres that control resources and network pathways associated with different forms of empowerment, during adolescence and early adulthood, including school achievement, class mobility, and selfdetermination. The school system is, of course, the most important of these institutional spheres.
Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011)

multiplex relations conveys that agents, in the context of a relationship, can provide a spectrum of institutional support to a student or youth. Relations between agent and beneficiary can solidify around one particular kind of resource or support (i.e., uniplex relations), or can incorporate multiple forms of support (i.e., multiplex relations). By definition, the classic role of mentor embodies both a multiplex and multistranded relationship.
Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011)

[See Table 1 below] alienation: a condition of embeddedness in a social web that socially engages but does not nourish, a web that occupies and partially integrates but does not enable the young individual to actualize his or her full human potential. (p. 21)
Manufacturing hope and despair: The school and kin support networks of U.S.-Mexican youth. New York: Teachers College Press, 2001.

Glossary Stanton-Salazar

alienated embeddedness: a social construction process whereby network participants do the work of assembling the structures of class, race, and gender at the interpersonal and institutional levels.I refer to how social relations within many low-status communities exhibit certain enduring objective conditions and social patterns that continually shortcircuit the social support process. (p. 21) Manufacturing hope and despair (2001) counterstratification: mitigating processes (set into motion by the individual, by the community, by institutional agents, or by all parties working either collectively or independently) gradually help selected youth construct egocentric networks characterized by trusting relations and authentic social and / or institutional support (i.e., social capital) (p. 22) Manufacturing hope and despair (2001) bicultural network orientation: a consciousness which facilitates the crossing of cultural borders, the overcoming of institutional barriers, and thereby facilitates entre into multiple community and institutional settings where diversified social capital can be generated and converted by way of instrumental actions (i.e., where instrumental social relationships can be formed, and social support and funds of knowledge can be obtained). Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (1997). Empowerment agents also facilitate a critical understanding of the sociopolitical context, including an ability to decode and interrogate the immediate institutional context and the larger social system. Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011) decoding the system: entails multiple, simultaneous forms of enlightenment and action: an awareness of what resources and funds of knowledge are needed to achieve within the system at a precise moment in time, while envisioning a different social order, combined with understanding of what structures ultimately need to be dismantled. Decoding the system entails knowing which actors and organizations in the social universe control key institutional resources, and which actors and organizations are the most predisposed and committed to the empowerment of low-status individuals and communities. Decoding the system also entails the political and networking skill-set that enables young people from historically-oppressed communities to enter into resourceful relationships with these actors and organizations that may not have an empowerment agenda and any particular commitment to low-status youth or students. Decoding the system entails a series of experiences that highlights the reality that people are able to accomplish meaningful goals through their access to resources not their own, and through receiving forms of institutional support either provided by agents who are motivated to go against the oppressive practices of both institution and society or by actors that lack any empowerment agenda. This is the essence of empowerment social capital.
Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011)

Institutional agentsas empowerment agentsalso facilitate and enable the development of key "coping strategies," coping strategies: articulated here in terms of the problem-solving capacities, help-seeking orientations, networking skills, and instrumental behaviors which are directed toward overcoming stressful institutional barriers and harmful ecological conditions (StantonGlossary Stanton-Salazar 9

Salazar, 1997; 2000; Stanton-Salazar & Spina, 2000). Coping strategies are ultimately successful when barriers are overcome and the resources necessary to accomplish developmental and educational tasks and goals are acquired (Cochran, et al., 1990).
Taken from Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011)

[positive] help-seeking orientation: becomes evident, in part, in terms of the degree of confidence an individual has regarding the ability of others (in the environment) to provide quality support; also important is the individuals ability and willingness to share his/her problems with others. Thus, people with highly positive help-seeking orientations exhibit both confidence in the support process (confianza en confianza) and facility with self-disclosure (interpersonal openness). Manufacturing hope and despair (2001)

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A Typology for Understanding the Connections among Different Dimensions of Social Capital [Stanton-Salazars 4 Dimensions of SC below]: I. II. Social Mediums [social conduits]: social tie[s] and network (either egocentric or the network as the unit of analysis) Properties or structural characteristics of the Social Medium [positive consequences, benefits] A. [structural] configurational properties of the social medium o strength of the relationship or tie, (Granovetter) o social closure within a network [high density] (Coleman, 1988); o structural holes characteristic of a network (Ron Burt) B. normative, integrative properties of the social medium o trust, o bounded solidarity (Portes, 1998) o enforceable norms & sanctions (Coleman, 1988), o norm of reciprocity III. Resources (Lin, 2001; Bourdieu) & Forms of Empowering Social Support (Stanton-Salazar, 1997, 2001) a. positional resources (Lin, 2001) b. personal resources c. institutional support (Stanton-Salazar, 2001) Social Structure [micro-macro levels]: resources are embedded in a medium and a set of social structures o micro: (1) rules of social life; cultural schemas = generalizable procedures applied in the enactment/reproduction of social life (Sewell. 1992); (2) resources are anything that can serve as a source of power in social interactions (Sewell, p. 19, 1992; see also Giddens). o macro, meso & micro: (Lin, 2001, p. 33)defined as consisting of: (1) a set of social units (positions) that possess differential amounts of one or more types of valued resources and that (2) are hierarchically related relative to authority (control of and access to resources), (3) share certain rules and procedures in the use of the resources, [micro], and (4) are entrusted to occupants (agents) who act on these rules and procedures.

IV.

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Elements of Social Capital (Stanton-Salazar) an illustration: Xiaoxin has a form of social capital that will enable her to gain admittance into UC Berkeley; this social capital is embedded in her relationship with the director of her Chinese language school (Mr. Lin), and is embedded in her membership in the network of staff and students that comprise the language/Chinese heritage school. 1. resource: (e.g., knowledge about what high school courses to take, and when to take such courses, in order to become eligible for admission into one of the University of California campuses; college knowledge) 2. mutual investment (over time) in a relationship between the director of a Chinese Language School and a student named Xiaoxin (both are Taiwanese) 3. configurational properties of the relationship: close relationship (i.e., affective bonding) 4. normative, integrative properties of the relationship: trust, reciprocity, ethnic solidarity 5. this college knowledge [social resource] possesses the capacity to produce profits or benefits in the social world (Bourdieu) 6. Xiaoxin has a history of being actively involved in fund-raising campaigns for the language school; she has a solid reputation in the school, is academically successful, and is well respected in the school. 7. Xiaoxin approaches Mr. Lin and asks for his help in learning about what high school courses to take, and when to take such courses, in order to become eligible for admission into the University of California Berkeley campus. Mr. Lin has a history of helping students gain admittance into U.C. campuses (including writing letters of recommendation, and contacts with UC administrators). 8. Xiaoxin follows Mr. Lins directives and drafts her course schedule for the next two years in high school. Come the fall semester, she enrolls in all the courses Mr. Lins has recommended. 9. Xiaoxin eventually converts her social capital into a degree from UC Berkeley (i.e., cultural capital) (convertibility of capital, Bourdieu)

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DEFINING Capital Bourdieu (1986) has argued that the laws governing the exchange of economic capital are applicable to human social relations in all their various forms. Thus, social capital is.. (1) cumulative, (2) possesses the capacity to produce profits or benefits in the social world, (3), is convertible into tangible resources or other forms of capital and (4) possesses the capacity to reproduce itself in identical or in expanded form.] Lin, Nan (1999). Building a Network Theory of Social Capital. CONNECTIONS 22(1): 28-51 The notion of capital can be traced to Marx (1933/1849; 1995; Brewer, 1984). In his conceptualization, capital is part of the surplus value captured by capitalists or the bourgeoisie, who control production means, in the circulations of commodities and monies between the production and consumption processes. In these circulations, laborers are paid for their labor (commodity) with a wage allowing them to purchase commodities (such as food, shelter, and clothing) to sustain their lives (exchange value). But the commodity processed and produced by the capitalists can be circulated to and sold in the consumption market at a higher price (user value). In this scheme of the capitalist society, capital represents two related but distinct elements. On the one hand, it is part of the surplus value generated and pocketed by the capitalists (and their "misers," presumably the traders and sellers). On the other hand, it represents an investment (in the production and circulation of commodities) on the part of the capitalists, with expected returns in a marketplace. Capital, as part of the surplus value, is a product of a process; whereas capital is also an investment process in which the surplus value is produced and captured. It is also understood that the investment and its produced surplus value are in reference to a return/reproduction of the process of investment and of more surplus values. It is the dominant class that makes the investment and captures the surplus value. Thus, it is a theory based on the exploitative social relations between two classes. I call Marx's theory of capital the classical theory of capital.

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Table 1: Forms of Institutional Support & Kinds of Institutional Agents social capital: consists of resources and key forms of institutional support embedded in a multilayered system of social structures--beginning with a fundamental networkanalytic structure (i.e., relationships, networks, and associations as social mediums) which, in turn, is embedded in complex and usually hierarchical structures found in formal and complex organizations and institutions (e.g., schools, universities, firms, corporations).
Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011). A social capital framework for the study of institutional agents and of the empowerment of low-status youth. Youth & Society 43 (3), 1066-1109.

Forms of Institutional Support DIRECT SUPPORT The Provision of Personal and Positional Resources

Institutional Agent: Roles

Resource Agent

Institutional agents possess or have access to two major categories of institutional resources. Positional resources are those that are linked to an advantageous position within a hierarchicallyarranged organization, network, institution, or social system. Unlike positional resources, personal resources are in the possession of individual actors who can use or transmit these resources without needing to receive specific authorization or be accountable to other actors or to the rules inherent in certain positions within an organization (Lin, 2001, p. 42). Transmission of Key Funds of Knowledge Knowledge Agent

Emphasis is on those funds of knowledge (as resources) most associated with navigating through, and ascension within, the educational system; such support includes the process of implicit and explicit socialization into institutional discoursesthose which regulate communication, interaction, and resource access in the educational system and other middle-class and high-status institutional spheres (Gee, 1989; Stanton-Salazar, 1997; Stanton-Salazar, Vsquez, & Mehan, 2000). Such support includes a critical interrogation that such discourses are not culturally universalistic, but rather arbitraryi.e., pertaining to the culture of the dominant classes (Bourdieu & Passeron, 1977). Such interrogation conveys that although the ways of institutional life (within mainstream society) are encoded in the discourse and ethos of the dominant group, through collective empowerment, such discourses have been historically contested and altered. A knowledge agent fulfills the role of institutional agent through the provision and critical interrogation of various funds of knowledge associated with ascension within an exclusionary educational system and other key institutional domains controlled by the dominant classes (e.g., immigration rights and procedures). With regard to the educational system, I place emphasis on non-subject matter knowledge essential to educational mobility and academic success, given the current power structure and stratification system (examples include knowledge about course requirements for admission eligibility to different universities, financial aid and scholarships).

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Evaluation, Advice & Guidance

Advisor

This type of support involves the agent in the process of gathering information, co-assessing problems and helping the individual [student] make appropriate and effective decisions related to ascension within the education system. Advocacy Advocate

This form of support entails intervening on behalf of the individual (or group of individuals), for the purpose of protecting or promoting their interests and rights within the organization or institution. An advocate fulfills the role of institutional agent by actively advocating on behalf of a student or young person, sometimes helping them navigate school procedures leading to achievement-oriented resources and opportunities. The advocate acts to intercede or defend the right of the student to have access to such resources; they can also intercede when students commit minor infractions, and where sanctions or penalties may interfere with academic progress. Network Development Networking Coach

This form of support entails knowledge and training leading to skillful networking and helpseeking behavior; e.g., knowledge of how to negotiate with, and access resources from, various gatekeepers and agents within and outside of the school environment (Baker, 2000); knowledge of how to develop supportive/cooperative ties with peers who are well integrated in the schools high-status academic and extracurricular circles (Stanton-Salazar, 2004). INTEGRATIVE SUPPORT Integrating Actions Integrative Agent

This form of support entails the process of coordinating a student or young persons social integration in certain high-status networks and professional venues (e.g., professional association, science fair). Here the student is able to participate in the associations activities and engage those individuals who are at the top of their field. Such integrative experiences serve to expose the student [young individual] to knowledge funds and career opportunities that may not be available elsewhere. An integrative agent is not only aware of the empowering socialization experiences derived from participating in high-status networks and associations, but also that such networks and associations are key sites where networking, help seeking, and reciprocal exchanges of institutional support are the norm, and where bridging and brokering are typical organizational activities. Such sites also provide excellent opportunities for network development, and for providing cultural exposure, as articulated above. An integrative agent also fulfills the role of institutional agent when incorporating student[s] into their very own

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professional network, which often include connecting the student[s] with the agents own cadre of students and mentees. Guided Cultural Exposure Cultural Guide

This form of support entails guided exposure and introduction to institutional domains and sociocultural worlds, their key functions, identification of key agents, sanctioned conventions of communication, etc. Guided cultural exposure is an essential part of an empowered socialization process, a set of experiences by which youth people learn to negotiate, and participate in, multiple, simultaneously existing, and often conflicting sociocultural worlds (Boykin, 1986). Each world is characterized by particular values and beliefs, expectations, actions, and emotional responses familiar to insiders (Phelan, et al., 1993). SYSTEM DEVELOPER Program Development Program Developer

This kind of activity entails developing a program that embeds students/youth in a system of agents, resources, and opportunities. Lobbying Lobbyist

This kind of activity entails lobbying an administrative or organizational entity for resources to be directed toward recruiting and supporting a targeted group of students/youth. Political Action/Advocacy Political Advocate

Just as an institutional agent may advocate for an individual student or youth, they may also join an organized group of institutional agents in advocating for social policies aimed at providing needed resources and enhancing social justice (Hepworth, et al., p. 31). SYSTEM LINKAGE & NETWORKING SUPPORT Recruiting Recruiter

This form of support entails actively recruiting students/youth into program, department, etc. Often involves interfacing with community organizations or educational institutions. Bridging Bridging Agent

This form of support entails the process of acting as a bridge to gate-keepers, to key institutional agents, and to exclusive social networks and high-status organizations and institutionse.g., university campuses. A bridging agent acts as a human bridge to gate-keepers, to other actors committed to serving as institutional agents, and to key social networks; the focus here is on person to person

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introductions and connections. In order to make sound connections, such bridging agents must have a well amplified social network, active connections with various key alters, and a good knowledge of the resources that these alters possess (see Hepworth, et al., 1997, p. 27) Institutional Brokering
(as an amplification of bridging)

Institutional Broker

This form of support entails assuming an activist role as an intermediary between two or more parties in negotiating agreements, and in accessing valued institutional resources on behalf of individual/client. It also entails steering the individual toward existing services and academic programs. An institutional broker assumes an intermediary role between two or more parties in negotiating agreements, and in accessing valued institutional resources on behalf of the individual/client/student. This agent also steers people toward existing social services and academic programs that may be of service to them, usually through referrals or through direct introductions to organizational personnel (see Heffernan, et al., 1997, pp. 27-28). Ideally, the agent must have active ties to people working in these organizations and programs; equally important, agents must have a thorough knowledge of the resources within the relevant contextsbe it the school district, university campus, the school system, and/or the community. The depth and quality of the support also entails knowledge regarding the quality of resources, services and opportunities provided by the organizations and programs within the relevant context. Coordinating
(as an extension of brokering)

Coordinator:

This form of institutional support entails assessing the needs of the individual [student, beneficiary], coordinating the provision of needed support and services, and working directly with the beneficiary and service provider to ensure that the support or resources are tailored to his or her needs. Often times, a young person or student lacks the ability, help-seeking orientation, knowledge, or resources to follow through on a referral to systems of support (social services, academic programs, etc.). In these cases, the institutional agent takes on the role of coordinator somewhat similar to the role of case manager in the social work field (Hepworth, et al., p. 27). The agent as coordinator assumes responsibility for assessing the needs of the beneficiary, coordinating the provision of needed support, and working directly with the beneficiary to ensure that the support or resources are tailored to his or her needs. In assessing the needs of the beneficiary (i.e., informal client), the coordinator may seek expert knowledge from professionals or colleagues who possess high levels of expertise relative to certain types of problems (e.g., substance abuse, child maltreatment, admission to an elite college, financial aid) (Hepworth, et al., p. 30). From the perspective of social capital theory (Lin, 2001), the quality of social capital when it emerges from the direct support of the agent--sometimes depends on the agent consulting with experts and other knowledgeable agents before providing the support to ego. Effectively seeking and receiving good consultationindeed, fulfilling the role of agent as coordinator-depends upon the social networks, social capital, and networking skills of the agent.

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References Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. New York: Greenwood Press. Bourdieu, P. & Passeron, J. (1977). Reproduction in education, society, and culture. London: Sage. Freire, P. (1993a). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York: Continuum Freire, P. (1993b). Education for critical consciousness. New York: Continuum Lin, N. (1999). Building a Network Theory of Social Capital. Connections, 22(1): 28-51 Lin, N. (2001). Social capital: A theory of social structure and action. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Sewell, W. H. Jr. (1992). A theory of structure: Duality, agency & transformation. American Journal of Sociology, 98 (1): 1-29 Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2011). A social capital framework for the study of institutional agents and of the empowerment of low-status youth. Youth & Society 43 (3), 1066-1109.
http://yas.sagepub.com/content/43/3/1066.short

Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2004). Social capital among working-class minority students. In M. A. Gibson, P. Gndara, & J. P. Koyama (Eds.), School Connections: U.S. Mexican Youth, Peers, and School Achievement. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University. Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (2001). Manufacturing hope and despair: The school and kin support networks of U.S.-Mexican youth. New York: Teachers College Press. Stanton-Salazar, R. D., Vsquez, O. A., & Mehan, H. (2000). Engineering success through institutional support. In Sheila T. Gregory (Ed.), The Academic Achievement of Minority

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Students: Comparative Perspectives, Practices, and Prescriptions. New York: University Press of America. Stanton-Salazar, R. D. (1997). A social capital framework for understanding the socialization of racial minority children and youth. Harvard Educational Review, 67(1), 1-40.

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Email address (R. D. Stanton-Salazar): arroyorunner@yahoo.com Profile on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/pub/ricardo-d-stanton-salazar-ph-d/b/b5/a30/ To see other documents by Stanton-Salazar on SCRIBD:
http://www.scribd.com/rstanton_salazar/documents

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