A comparative study of family social capital and literacy practices in Singapore
A comparative study of family social capital and literacy practices in Singapore
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DOI：
10.1177/1468798411429934
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发表时间：
2013-03-01
影响因子：
1.6
通讯作者：
Hu, Guangwei
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Ren, Li;Hu, Guangwei
社会资本——人与人之间的社会关系——是家庭环境的重要组成部分，对于为下一代创造人力资本至关重要。本研究借鉴詹姆斯·S·科尔曼（James S. Coleman）的家庭资本理论，重点研究新加坡四个新加坡人和移民中产阶级家庭中父母利用社会资本支持儿童识字的情况。对观察和访谈数据的比较分析表明，这些家庭不仅在拥有的社会资本数量上存在差异，而且在激活社会资本对孩子的双语能力和教育发展方面也存在差异。他们还揭示，父母对社会资本的运用是由家庭地位（移民或本地）、父母职业、父母的教育观点以及家庭对东道国社会的文化适应（对于移民家庭而言）等因素驱动的。此外，一个家庭对其社会资本的巧妙利用可以弥补人力资本的相对短缺。总的来说，这些发现通过将潜力与现实的社会资本分开，对科尔曼的理论做出了贡献。
Social capital - the social relations between people - is an important component of the family environment and is crucial for the creation of human capital for the next generation. Drawing on James S. Coleman's theory of family capital, this study focuses on parents' utilization of social capital to support children's literacy acquisition in four Singaporean and immigrant middle-class Chinese families in Singapore. Comparative analyses of observation and interview data reveal that these families differed not only in the volume of social capital they possessed but also in the activation of this capital for their children's biliteracy and educational development. They also reveal that the parents' application of social capital is motivated by such factors as the status of the family (immigrant or native), parental occupation, parents' educational views and the family's acculturation to the host society (in the case of immigrant families). Furthermore, a family's skilful use of its social capital could compensate for a relative shortage of human capital. These findings, taken as a whole, contribute to Coleman's theory by disentangling potential from actualized social capital.