Many programs that place low-income students of color in high-achieving college preparatory high schools seek to nurture bridging social capital, connections across class lines that provide leverage in the process of “getting ahead.” Bonding social capital, which focuses more on emotional support and “getting by,” is frequently characterized as less useful for social mobility. Drawing upon in-depth interviews with alumni from one such program, we challenge the notion of bridging and bonding social capital as discrete, countervailing forms of social capital, and demonstrate how the two may complement each other. Specifically, we find that bonding social capital served as a critical resource that students drew upon as they navigated their elite high schools in the face of racism and classism. In doing so, this bonding social capital ultimately facilitated the development of bridging social capital by encouraging student persistence at these institutions. Our findings support critiques of traditional accounts of social capital that devalue the capital possessed by marginalized communities and fuel deficit ideologies. Furthermore, they highlight the personal costs that youth may face in the pursuit of bridging capital, complicating the narrative of social mobility as an unmitigated good.

中文翻译：

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“我们会帮助你渡过难关”：粘合社会资本在桥接社会资本发展中的作用

许多将低收入有色人种学生安置在成绩优异的大学预科高中的项目都旨在培养桥梁性的社会资本和跨阶级的联系，从而在“取得成功”的过程中提供杠杆作用。纽带社会资本更注重情感支持和“过得去”，通常被认为对社会流动性不太有用。根据对此类项目校友的深入访谈，我们对将社会资本作为离散的、相互抵消的社会资本形式进行桥梁和结合的概念提出了挑战，并论证了两者如何相互补充。具体来说，我们发现，当学生在精英高中面临种族主义和阶级歧视时，纽带社会资本是他们所利用的关键资源。在此过程中，这种联系性社会资本最终通过鼓励学生在这些机构的坚持，促进了桥接性社会资本的发展。我们的研究结果支持了对传统社会资本账户的批评，这些账户贬低了边缘化社区所拥有的资本并助长了赤字意识形态。此外，它们还强调了年轻人在追求过渡资本时可能面临的个人成本，使社会流动性作为一种彻底的好处的叙述变得复杂化。