Revealing
social capital
How the people we know influence our opportunities
Social connections
Revealing Social Capital is the most detailed study of social connection in UK history.
In partnership with Behavioural Insights Team (BIT), Neighbourly Labs, Stripe Partners, Opportunity Insights and Meta, our team analysed six billion Facebook friendships, covering roughly 58% of the UK population aged between 25 and 64, to see how connected people are across income levels.
The study revealed that friendships across socioeconomic lines have a strong relationship with future earnings and social mobility.
It found that children from low-income households who grow up in areas with lots of mixing between income groups earn more as adults – around an additional £5,000 per year – compared to children from similar backgrounds who mix less with high-income peers.
Report
Social capital in the United Kingdom: evidence from six billion friendships
US research conducted by Raj Chetty and colleagues found children from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to achieve higher incomes in adulthood in communities that foster more friendships between high- and low-income individuals. This study examines whether similar patterns hold in the UK.
Our work mirrors 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.
The work allows researchers to map, interrogate, and understand social capital in a more comprehensive way than ever before in the UK.
These insights will allow us to develop policies that bolster social capital and connectedness across the UK, and to target these areas of greatest need – ultimately leading to improved life outcomes for millions.
Explore the Revealing Social Capital research
Mapping Social Capital
Use our interactive map to see how social connection influences social mobility in your area
Social capital in the United Kingdom
Visit the Behavioural Insights Team website to read the Revealing Social Capital executive summary and to download the report.
We live in a time characterised of great division and disunity. This landmark research offers still more proof that social connection and social mobility are inextricably linked, and core to the income and happiness prospects of individuals and nations alike. Fostering greater connection between people needs to become the golden thread running through all public policy, and we will be working with our partners across government, business and civil society to grow this evidence base and put it to work in communities up and down the country.
Andy Haldane
CEO, the RSA
Our research
- Phase one: analysing anonymised data from 20 million Facebook users to identify the impact of social capital on social mobility and the factors that help to create it.
- Phase two: carrying out interviews in four demographically similar areas with differing social capital to provide qualitative insights into how social capital works in the real world.
- Phase three: bringing together people who have a role in building social capital (eg teachers, social workers) and community members to envision and design practical ways to build social connections and capital.
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.
Nick Clegg
President, Global Affairs, Meta
Our outcomes
Our social connections activity has three main aims:
- Make social capital a more easily understandable area of policy and research.
- Design actionable and evidence-based ways to build social capital.
- Empower local leaders and communities to build solutions tailored to their needs.
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.
Connected Places and how to participate
Connected Places
Learn what we’re doing to build social capital in communities through our Connected Places intervention.
Partner on our pilots
Help fund a cohort exploring how to map and replenish social capital to improve health and social mobility outcomes for residents.
