Disability and employment: considering the importance of social capital

Journal of Rehabilitation, July-Sept, 2005 by Blyden Potts

Knowledge from one field may often be of use in other fields once that knowledge permeates between disciplines. The time seems ripe for the concept off social capital and what is known about its relationship to employment chances to make the jump from sociology to the field off vocational rehabilitation and counseling for persons with disability. This paper is intended as a vehicle for beginning to bring social capital into the field of vocational rehabilitation.

The Problem of Employment for Persons with Disabilities

Persons with disabilities typically face extraordinary obstacles in finding employment. This is evident in their significantly higher levels off unemployment and underemployment than the general population. Employment levels vary by type of disability, but the Harris Survey of 2004 reported that 35% of persons with severe disabilities are employed, up slightly from the 31% employment rate found by the same survey in 2000, but very low compared to the employment rate of about 78% or 80% of the general population (Harris Survey, 2004, 2000: U.S. Census Bureau (SIPP), 1997).

Employment involves matching potential employees with job opportunities. To the extent that employment does not occur, the root of the problem may lie with the employee, with the job opportunities, or with the mechanisms that match the two sides together. The strategies that vocational programs for persons with disability typically use to address the problem off unemployment among persons with disabilities already, recognize many of the causes that contribute to a high rate of unemployment, but there is one major cause they overlook.

On the job opportunity side of the relationship (i.e. labor "demand") employment programs offer solutions to address specific problems that deny persons with disabilities an equal opportunity to get the job. These may include education programs to counter negative employer or coworker stereotypes, workplace assessments to identify accessibility concerns in the physical layout and organization of the workplace, workplace supports to encourage employee integration with coworkers, and financial incentives and legal initiatives to counter externalities (e.g. insurance costs) that would give employers a disincentive to hire an employee with a disability.

On the employee end of the relationship (i.e. labor "supply"), job training, teaching off specific work skills, and technological assistance (e.g. motorized wheelchairs) are mainstays of many disability vocational programs. These solutions address perceived deficits in the skills and talents of the potential employees who these programs serve, based on the assumption that consumers would be employed if they had stronger marketable skills. These factors are what some sociologists and labor market economists refer to as human capital.

In matching employees with employers, existing programs often teach consumers how to write a resume, improve interview skills, teach people bow to find a job, and assist in locating job opportunities. Some programs also try to teach typical office "culture" (e.g. attire, business etiquette). While they may not be directly relevant to the job function, these elements make employment more likely and, in the case of office culture, can improve success at the job. These factors are what some sociologists call cultural capital. One major factor in the matching aspect of employment that very few, if any, vocational programs for persons with disabilities seem to include is what sociologists call social capital. Social capital is the set or network of social relationships by which most people find employment.

Human, Cultural, and Social Capital

The term "capital" refers to resources that may be used to gain benefit, advantage, or profit. Originally capital meant physical or economic resources like land, machinery, or labor power that produced new goods or could be the basis of profit. Later, social theorists broadened the term. They saw that an individual gained advantage in the labor market by virtue of the desirability and scarcity of the skills that the person had to offer. Education, expertise, skills and abilities are a form of capital which resided in the bodies and minds of the individuals. Thus it is called human capital (Becker, 1964). Bourdieu (1977, 1984, 1990) argued that cultural and subcultural knowledge is a form of capital in that it is a basis for social inclusion or exclusion. This is cultural capital. A common example in the workplace is a prospective employee doing the right things (e.g. speaking the right jargon, wearing appropriate attire, having desirable demeanor) to make the employer feel that the employee would fit well in the workplace. A growing awareness of the use of social relationships to "get ahead" led to the formal recognition of such relations as another form of capital, social capital (Bourdieu, 1983; Coleman, 1988), that has been popularized by Bowling Alone (Putnam, 2000). Social capital captures the idea in the adage "It's not what you know but who you know." Study of the importance of social capital in the workplace is a rapidly growing field of scholarly inquiry (c.f. Baron, Field, and Schuller, 2000; Lesser, 2000; Lin, 2001: Lin, Cook, and Burt, 2001). From the perspective of the employee, getting a desirable job may be viewed as a return accruing to the person based on their human, cultural, and social capital. All three types are important to the employment process.