Week 14 - Networks and Inequality
Today’s Dad Joke
Within minutes, the detective knew exactly what the murder weapon was.
It was a brief case.
Housekeeping
- Final project schedule
- Rough draft on Thursday
- Peer feedback by Saturday
- Presentations next Tuesday and Thursday
- Final report due on April 24
- May want to look at the Advanced R Rmd file (Week 15 on the schedule)
- No class on Thursday - work on final project
Review Questions
- What are some mechanisms by which networks can produce inequality?
- What do Fernandez and Fernandez-Mateo mean by “wrong networks”?
- What are some ways that networks can help reduce inequality?
- What social, political, or structural barriers might be preventing efforts to increase cross-class interactions?
Review Questions
- What approaches could increase cross-class and cross-race relationships?
- How do we balance the benefits of more cross-class ties with people’s freedom to choose their own friends and communities?
- If someone from a high-income area moved to a low-income area, does that decrease their social capital, or does it benefit those around them and raise others’ social capital?
- What are the downsides of these approaches?
Debate
- Proposition: Economic outcomes are primarily driven by individual effort and ability, not social networks or structures.