How the people we know influence our opportunities
We are working with the Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) in partnership with Stripe Partners and Neighbourly Lab, on a first of its kind research project funded by the Nuffield Foundation.
Working with Meta's 'Data for Good programme' we will leverage insights from Facebook data to better understand how all forms of social connections between people affect the opportunities they have in their lives. We call this ‘social capital’.
Researching social capital at scale has been historically difficult. However, for the first time, we will have exclusive access to Facebook and Instagram social connections data for the UK.
Our work will mirror the ground-breaking work done in the USA headed by Raj Chetty, Professor of Public Economics at Harvard University. The UK project will draw on equivalent UK data to examine how social capital relates to social mobility and other life outcomes, such as health and education.
By exploring different types of social capital, we can show how they affect social mobility, health, and education. We’ll use these data to understand what happens when some people have more social capital than others and what sorts of policies and programmes might help to increase opportunities across the UK.
Rigorous, independent research is the best way to help us understand the impact that the social connections people make on platforms like Facebook and Instagram have on the world. This new partnership will help us deepen our understanding of the relationship between social connections and economic opportunity in the UK.
Our social connections activity has three main aims:
Policymaker briefings, local government briefings, an open-source data visualisation tool, journal articles, and a social capital toolkit will be produced in addition to a publicly available report.
BIT is excited to lead this project, combining big data, qualitative work in communities and policy development to answer not just ‘why does social connection matter?’ but ‘what can we do to foster it?’ too. As the largest social networking site in the world, working with Meta provides a unique opportunity to understand our social connections and how they affect our lives.
Blog
Andy Haldane
In his 2025 CEO Lecture, Andy Haldane addresses how the ever-increasing cross-border flows of goods, people and information affect widening divisions and accelerate the depletion of social capital.
Press release
RSA CEO Andy Haldane delivered his annual Chief Executive’s Lecture to a sold-out audience at RSA House.
Blog
Andy Haldane
Social connectivity was a theme of the 695th Lord Mayor's Lecture Series. In it, our CEO, Andy Haldane, explored the role of social capital and connectivity in nurturing health, wealth and happiness, among other things.