Black Undergraduate Networking: A Relational Understanding of Connections, Constraints, and Capital

• In Event: 47.043 - Exploring Boundaries, Illuminating Processes: Conducting Relational Research in Education

Abstract

Formerly preferred, but increasingly required, a college degree has become a prerequisite in a competitive job market. For Black undergraduates who continue to experience disparities in college completion, gaps in hiring are exacerbated by unequal access to leadership positions and internships during college, and employment opportunities upon graduation. Given that informal connections and social networks heavily influence occupational access, this study presents a relational, ethnographic approach to understanding the opportunities and constraints of networking for Black undergraduates. This study advances prior social capital research by not only offering where networks exist, but also presenting how they form and develop over time and across spaces. This study elucidates how Black students at a selective, historically White institution (HWI) find, form and maintain ties through the networking process, despite external challenges and pressures. A relational approach allowed for data collection that included not only shadowing 10 Black college juniors and seniors, but also involved interviews with their peers, professors and professional mentors. In trying to understand how Black undergraduates network, there are three overarching findings that illuminate how this process unfolds: (1) participants needed to re-define ‘networking’ to meet their collective academic, professional and personal identities and to feel comfortable engaging in the process, (2) participants were often managing the norms of fields that sometimes placed their racialized identities at odds with individuals within their professional circles, and finally (3) participants also had experiences where their racialized identities supported their success in finding, forming and maintaining connections through the networking process.

Author

• Liane Indira Hypolite, University of Southern California