Increasing economic connectedness could be the answer to polarization. Here’s how to do it
Summary: Calista Small, a Research Manager at More in Common and lead author of The Connection Opportunity, provides insight into how to foster more economic connectedness in the US.
A defining feature of America’s national story is class mobility, or the opportunity to work and advance one’s economic position. Yet in an era of profound economic inequality, how can Americans move upward?
Economic connectedness, defined as social interactions between people from different socioeconomic backgrounds, is part of the answer. These cross-class relationships are vital to the health of our economy: they foster social capital, open doors to new career opportunities, and build stronger communities.
Yet cross-class relationships don’t just have economic outcomes; they likely affect political polarization, too. Analysis of contemporary politics suggests that the country is becoming more polarized along lines of economic status and educational attainment. As a result, many political divisions fall along class lines. Building meaningful connections between people with different levels of education or household income may therefore be a critical depolarization strategy.
How do we foster cross-class relationships, especially when growing income segregation physically separates people? While previous research has (rightly) focused on the structural factors behind cross-class relationships, we decided to take a novel, “people-centered” approach. We asked over 4,500 US adults what they thought about forming these connections. Were they even interested in doing this? And, if so, what challenges were standing in the way?
Here is what we found:
Interest is high, but varies by socioeconomic status
A majority of Americans are interested in connecting with someone from a different socioeconomic background, but many (30 percent, on average) say they “lack the opportunity” to do so.
That said, high-socioeconomic status (SES) adults tend to express more interest in connecting with people from lower-SES backgrounds than lower-SES adults do.
Affordability and respect are key barriers
Why are low-SES adults less interested in these connections?
Our study uncovered three main reasons why. First, low-SES adults are more likely to think that high-SES adults “don’t want to interact with them.” Nearly a quarter of low-SES people (23 percent) report this; conversely, only a tenth of high-SES people (9 percent) report this.
Second, in qualitative interviews, low-SES adults express concerns about affordability.
“I’m a college student. I don’t interact with other college students that are richer than me often because we often have different ideas of feasible activities (I’m on a much lower budget).”
- Edna, 20-year-old white woman from Utah
Finally, and most critically: low-SES adults often express worries that people from high-SES backgrounds won’t respect or understand them.
“I believe those from a higher socioeconomic status wouldn’t understand my struggles. I think it would be an uncomfortable experience to interact with someone who can't understand my experiences.”
- Bryan, 23-year-old Asian man from California
How do we foster more economic connectedness?
As Deputy Director Kate Carney writes in a recent piece in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, we cannot take it for granted that relationships across lines of difference form on their own, especially when many aspects of modern life can make it harder to connect with one another.
Community and government leaders, philanthropists, and individuals committed to improving democracy must make conscious efforts to promote connections across class lines.
With our research in mind, More in Common partnered with the American Academy of Arts and Sciences to create a guide for community leaders interested in fostering cross-class connection.
Many of the recommendations in the guide are straightforward: create more opportunities for connection, bring people together via shared interests, etc. However, other recommendations focus on the more subtle conditions under which such socializing takes place in order to ensure that everyone feels respected and understood.
We list them here, along with illustrative case studies:
Increase opportunities for cross-class interactions by investing in environments that bring people together across the income spectrum.
👉A community development initiative in Spartanburg, South Carolina addresses economic segregation by prioritizing the building of mixed-income housing and socioeconomically diverse schools.
Connect people through common interests or shared projects that are accessible for people of all income levels.
👉Community Rowing Inc. in Boston, Massachusetts builds cross-class trust and friendship by bringing city and suburban youth and adults together around a shared interest in rowing.
Have trained brokers who are skilled at getting people to engage and communicate across lines of difference.
👉Staff in public libraries across the country are trained to create safe spaces and programs where visitors of all demographics can connect and have conversations.
Make cross-class connections a primary objective of institutional programming and create opportunities for sustained engagement.
👉An AP English teacher in Palo Alto, California made economic connectedness a key part of her classroom design, creating an ongoing peer-mentorship program that connects students of different class backgrounds through structured learning and classroom activities.
Any strategy, however, must first recognize that America’s crisis of connection is uneven across class. For instance, Americans with college degrees have more robust civic engagement. Their social networks are wider, too: while Americans generally report having fewer close friends in recent years, those with a bachelor's degree are twice as likely to have at least six close friends.
When connection becomes a seemingly exclusive resource, people who do not have such resources may feel out of place when presented with opportunities to connect – especially if those opportunities are created by high-SES adults. As a result, increasing accessibility is not just a matter of opening the door; it is also actively welcoming people in.
To find out more, visit the American Academy of Arts and Sciences’ website dedicated to economic connectedness. Read Executive Director Jason Mangone’s piece on economic connectedness in The Hill here.
Webinar Alert:
Interested in learning more about this #ConnectionOpportunity report? Be sure to sign up for our webinar with Healthy Places by Design (May 28th, 3 PM ET).
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