" It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who You Know”

Abstract

Given the endless times I have heard “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know”, the value of social networks became the forefront of this sociological study. Throughout this study I investigate the relationship between social capital and self efficacy. I interviewed ten undergraduate, low income students at medium sized school in the Northeast on their social connections throughout high school and college experience. These same respondents then took a General Self Efficacy scale to measure their perceived self efficacy. The study finds that those with higher measures of social capital also demonstrate higher perceived self efficacy. More importantly, social capital seemed to be more effective in providing resources and building self efficacy when there was a shared identity or experience between the student and the resource.