Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Networks and Class in a Contemporary Caribbean Society

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Doctoral Dissertation Research: Social Networks and Class in a Contemporary Caribbean SocietyAmerican University anthropology doctoral candidate, Hope Bastian Martinez, supervised by Dr. Brett Williams, will investigate how individuals of different social groups living in an urban setting use personal networks to resolve everyday socioeconomic challenges encountered in a historic moment characterized by rapid changes, generalized uncertainty, and growing economic inequalities. This research will explore how changes in consumption practices and new opportunities for consumption are affecting social networks, processes of stratification, and emerging identities.The researcher will map personal networks through methods of participant observation in two sites of sociability central to the active everyday construction and maintenance of social networks, and structured interviews. Research questions query whether there is evidence that ties formed in the period of austerity and re-stratification following the end of the Cold War might connect the new "top" and "bottom" of society. The research design will test whether these networks mitigate the effects of growing economic inequalities by informally distributing wealth and opportunities through personal ties.This research is important because it will contribute to new theories of social inequality in the contemporary world. The research findings may also be of value to policymakers who are seeking to target social policy to address social inequalities. This research also supports the education of a graduate student.