Deciphering somali immigrant adolescents’ navigation and interpretation of resources embedded in social relationships

Abstract

Through social relationships, social capital is accumulated. Growing evidence supports the presence of social capital influencing academic outcomes through structural opportunities. Unfortunately, little evidence can be found to explain how differences in social capital application toward academic outcomes can occur with seemingly similar individual with the same structural opportunities. This area of interest is particularly important for populations with limited or less visible opportunities. This study examined the social networks of Somali-American students to determine the factors that may lead to differential utilization of resources within similar social networks. A mixed-methods approach was employed in this study. Based on the findings, the authors argue for a broadening of the social capital in education discourse to include agency within structural opportunities.