Inequality in social capital: social capital, social risk and drop-out in the Turkish education system

Abstract

This article examines the effects of social capital on the likelihood of dropping out from the compulsory education system (Grades One through Eight) in Turkey. It focuses on the question of whether school-related social capital can provide the means to stay in school in the presence of risk factors such as socioeconomic status, race, or gender that cannot be easily modified. Despite major progress in enrollment rates due to policies enacted in recent years, the overall drop-out rate in compulsory education is close to 15% in Turkey. Data collected from 764 student–mother pairs show that drop-outs are exposed to higher number of social risk factors. We further illustrate that school-related social capital, as measured by quality of in-school teacher–student interactions as well as parental involvement in school, significantly and positively contributes to adolescents’ likelihood of staying in school even in the presence of severe social inequalities.

Keywords:

• social capital
• drop-out
• social risk
• social inequalities
• gender
• Turkey

Notes

1. The cities are Istanbul, Erzurum, Diyarbakir, Konya, Mardin, and Sanliurfa, with drop-out rates ranging between 6% and 42% as determined by cohort analysis.

2. Standard error biases after bootstrapping are low, ranging between –0.002 and 0.05.