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Annu. Rev. Sociol. 1999. 25:467–87
Copyright ' 1999 by Annual Reviews. All rights reserved
SOCIAL NETWORKS AND STATUS
ATTAINMENT
Nan Lin
Department of Sociology, Duke University, Box 90088, Durham, North Carolina
27708-0088; e-mail: nanlin@duke.edu
KEY WORDS: social resources, social capital, social networks, status attainment
ABSTRACT
This essay traces the development of the research enterprise, known as the
social resources theory, which formulated and tested a number of proposi-
tions concerning the relationships between embedded resources in social
networks and socioeconomic attainment. This enterprise, seen in the light of
social capital, has accumulated a substantial body of research literature and
supported the proposition that social capital, in terms of both access and mo-
bilization of embedded resources, enhances the chances of attaining better
statuses. Further, social capital is contingent on initial positions in the social
hierarchies as well as on extensity of social ties. The essay concludes with a
discussion of remaining critical issues and future research directions for this
research enterprise.
INTRODUCTION
Status attainment can be understood as a process by which individuals mobi-
lize and invest resources for returns in socioeconomic standings. Resources in
this context are defined as valued goods in society, however consensually de-
termined (Lin 1982, 1995), and values are normative judgments rendered on
these goods which in most societies correspond with wealth, status, and power
(Weber 1946). Socioeconomic standings refer to valued resources attached to
occupied positions. These resources can be classified into two types: personal
resources and social resources. Personal resources are possessed by the indi-
vidual who can use and dispose them with freedom and without much concern

for compensation. Social resources are resources accessible through one’s di-
rect and indirect ties. The access to and use of these resources are temporary
and borrowed. For example, a friend’s occupational or authority position, or
such positions of this friend’s friends, may be ego’s social resource. The friend
may use his/her position or network to help ego to find a job. These resources
are “borrowed” and useful to achieve ego’s certain goal, but they remain the
property of the friend or his/her friends.
The theoretical and empirical work for understanding and assessing the
status attainment process can be traced to the seminal study reported by Blau &
Duncan (1967). The major conclusion was that, even accounting for both the
direct and indirect effects of ascribed status (parental status), achieved status
(education and prior occupational status) remained the most important factor
accounting for the ultimate attained status. The study thus set the theoretical
baseline for further modifications and expansions. All subsequent theoretical
revisions and expansions must be evaluated for their contribution to the expla-
nation of status attainment beyond those accounted for by the Blau-Duncan
paradigm (Kelley 1990, Smith 1990). Several lines of contributions since,
including the addition of sociopsychological variables (Sewell & Hauser
1975), the recast of statuses into classes (Wright 1979, Goldthorpe 1980), the
incorporation of “structural” entities and positions as both contributing and at-
tained statuses (Baron & Bielby 1980, Kalleberg 1988), and the casting of
comparative development or institutions as contingent conditions (Treiman
1970) have significantly amplified rather than altered the original Blau-
Duncan conclusion concerning the relative merits of achieved versus ascribed
personal resources in status attainment.
In the last three decades, a research tradition has focused on the effects on
attained statuses of social resources. The principal proposition is that social
resources exert an important and significant effect on attained statuses, beyond
that accounted for by personal resources. Systematic investigations of this
proposition have included efforts in: (a) developing theoretical explanations
and hypotheses; (b) developing measurements for social resources; (c) con-
ducting empirical studies verifying the hypotheses; and (d) assessing the rela-
tive importance of social resources as compared to personal resources in the
process of status attainment. These investigations have been carried out in
North America, Europe, and Asia, in multiple political economies, and have
involved scholars of many nations and cultures. The accumulation and ad-
vances in theory and research have considerably expanded the intellectual
horizon of sociological analysis in status attainment and, thus, in social stratifi-
cation and social mobility. The purposes of this chapter are (a) to review the
theoretical and empirical foundations of these lines of investigation, (b) sum-
marize sampled studies and results, and (c) propose issues and directions for
future research.
468 LIN