Transmission of values or access to resources? Effects of social class, capitals, and networks on civic engagement

This paper expands our knowledge on class divides in civic participation by asking a question to what extent class effect may be accounted for by differences in capitals (economic and cultural) and personal social networks. Two pathways of networks operation are considered: one related to the structure of network (size and diversity) and the other referring to the type of people someone is connected to (network content). Using Poland as a case, I evaluate the approach by using representative survey data for one urban population aged 18-75 (N = 1010) and building an integrated measure of civic engagement. The results show that: (i) civic participation varies by class position and depends on access to resources (in particular cultural capital); (ii) individuals with larger social networks are more civically engaged, but the same is not true for network diversity; (iii) having family contacts (but not non-family contacts) of higher average prestige is positively related to the level of participation, in line with the social influence argument; and (iv) the effect of class position is partially mediated by capital endowment and networking. The findings point to the goal-specificity of social capital and indicate that individual social capital does not translate automatically into a community's social capital.