Social Capital’s Construction And Its Utility And Limitations In Job-hunting Process For Rural College Students

Employment issue encountered against rural poor college students(hereinafter named as “this group”) has always been one of the critical social issues. Construction of social capital during the college period may be beneficial for them to find employment.Based on intensive interviews with eleven(11) rural poor college students, this study has analyzed the process, path and tactics gone through for this group in the construction of social capital. Meanwhile, by comparison with another eight(8) non rural poor college students, further study has been performed to analyze its weak position in constructing and applying the social capital. In the end, analysis has also been conducted to study the potential factors which may promote or limit the utility of social capital at the stage of employment hunting for graduates.It is found in this study that this group has to undergo four phases in their construction of social capital, say, initial phase, maintenance phase, enhancement phase and mobilization phase. The tactics applicable in constructing the social capital consist of emotional investment, human investment and economic investment; when constructing and using the social capital, this group has exposed the weak position in mental state, capital functioning and capital construction capacity. Meantime, it is also discovered that realization of social capital utility is subjected to the motivation and limitation of social structures. The deficiency of social resources impels this group to construct the social capital more actively. However, the interaction specifications in social structures must be complied with during that process.Eventually, it is found that the Network-structure social capital constructed may exert limitations on realizing its utility and only the Mentor High-social-status-and-High-relationship-strength type of social capital can ideally function in job hunting. This thesis comes to the final conclusion that this group should continuously improve their comprehensive quality, strengthen the human capital and construct the effective social capital so that they can embrace the breakthrough in social structure.