Social capital changes through life course events

This chapter engages with conditions that matter for changes in social capital through the life course. It discusses how social capital variation is influenced by life course events. The main hypothesis is that some events will provide an opportunity to enlarge social capital, while others diminish resources. National representative network panel data that span 19 years (1999-2018) are employed to examine such patterns of social capital changes. Social capital is assessed by the position generator instrument. Findings show that life course events such as union formation enhance social capital. This implies, however, also enhanced segregation since existing social capital in the network is multiplied at the cost of social capital range and diversity. In general, life events offer mostly opportunities to increase social capital for people in less fortunate social positions, rather than for those whose position is already at the higher end of the social strata.