Social Distance and Social Decisions

A model of social distance is presented that is useful for understanding social decisions. An example is constructed of class stability. Agents who are initially close interact strongly while those who are socially distant have little interaction. In this example, inherited social position, which may be interpreted as social class, plays a dominant role. The relevance of this model to social decisions, such as the choice of educational attainment and childbearing, is discussed in the context of specific ethnographic examples. Class position may play a dominant role in these decisions.

[1]  G. Becker,et al.  Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis with Special Reference to Education, Third Edition , 1993 .

[2]  Gary S Becker,et al.  Front matter, Human Capital: A Theoretical and Empirical Analysis, with Special Reference to Education , 1965 .

[3]  L. Kubie.  Manchild in the Promised Land , 1966 .

[4]  William Labov,et al.  THE LOGIC OF NONSTANDARD ENGLISH , 1970 .

[5]  Lee Rainwater,et al.  Behind Ghetto Walls: Black Families in a Federal Slum , 1973 .

[6]  Thomas C. Schelling,et al.  Dynamic models of segregation , 1971 .

[7]  R. Leighton,et al.  Feynman Lectures on Physics , 1971 .

[8]  D. Entwisle,et al.  Language in the Inner City: Studies in the Black English Vernacular.@@@Sociolinguistic Patterns. , 1975 .

[9]  G. Becker.  Chapter Title: a Theory of Marriage a Theory of Marriage , 2022 .

[10]  A. Blinder.  The Economics of Brushing Teeth , 1974, Journal of Political Economy.

[11]  George A. Akerlof.  An economic theorist's book of tales: The economics of caste and of the rat race and other woeful tales , 1976 .

[12]  Glenn C. Loury,et al.  A Dynamic Theory of Racial Income Differences , 1976 .

[13]  G. Becker,et al.  An Economic Analysis of Marital Instability , 1977, Journal of Political Economy.

[14]  George A. Akerlof.  A theory of social custom, of which unemployment may be one consequence , 1980 .

[15]  J. Comer.  School Power: Implications of an Intervention Project , 1980 .

[16]  Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez , 1982 .

[17]  Richard Rodriguez,et al.  Hunger of Memory: The Education of Richard Rodriguez , 1983 .

[18]  J. Baugh.  Black Street Speech: Its History, Structure, and Survival , 1985 .

[19]  S. Jones.  The Economics of Conformism , 1984 .

[20]  R. Frank.  Choosing the Right Pond: Human Behavior and the Quest for Status , 1986 .

[21]  George A. Akerlof.  Discriminatory, Status-based Wages among Tradition-oriented, Stochastically Trading Coconut Producers , 1985, Journal of Political Economy.

[22]  William Labov,et al.  De facto segregation of black and white vernaculars , 1986 .

[23]  R. Axelrod.  An Evolutionary Approach to Norms , 1986, American Political Science Review.

[24]  Kevin M. Murphy,et al.  A Theory of Rational Addiction , 1988, Journal of Political Economy.

[25]  R. Anson.  Best intentions : the education and killing of Edmund Perry , 1988 .

[26]  D. Ellwood.  Poor Support: Poverty In The American Family , 1989 .

[27]  L. Schorr,et al.  Within Our Reach: Breaking the Cycle of Disadvantage , 1989 .

[28]  J. Comer,et al.  Maggie's American Dream: The Life and Times of a Black Family , 1989 .

[29]  Kevin M. Murphy,et al.  A Simple Theory of Advertising as a Good , 1993 .

[30]  R. Bénabou.  Workings of a City: Location, Education, and Production , 1991 .

[31]  P. Krugman.  Increasing Returns and Economic Geography , 1991 .

[32]  G. Becker,et al.  A Note on Restaurant Pricing and Other Examples of Social Influences on Price , 1991, Journal of Political Economy.

[33]  P. Krugman,et al.  First Nature, Second Nature, and Metropolitan Location , 1991 .

[34]  Lawrence F. Katz,et al.  The Company You Keep: The Effects of Family and Neighborhood on Disadvantaged Youths , 1991 .

[35]  J. Crane.  The Epidemic Theory of Ghettos and Neighborhood Effects on Dropping Out and Teenage Childbearing , 1991, American Journal of Sociology.

[36]  C. Manski.  Identification of Endogenous Social Effects: The Reflection Problem , 1993 .

[37]  P. Krugman.  Cities in Space: Three Simple Models , 1991 .

[38]  P. Krugman,et al.  A Dynamic Spatial Model , 1992 .

[39]  W. Evans,et al.  Measuring Peer Group Effects: A Study of Teenage Behavior , 1992, Journal of Political Economy.

[40]  S. Wei,et al.  Emerging Currency Blocs , 1993 .

[41]  Steven N. Durlauf,et al.  Nonergodic Economic Growth , 1993 .

[42]  D. Massey.  American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass , 1993 .

[43]  B. Bernheim,et al.  A Theory of Conformity , 1994, Journal of Political Economy.

[44]  G. Borjas,et al.  Ethnicity, Neighborhoods, and Human-Capital Externalities , 2019, Foundations of Migration Economics.

[45]  A. Greif.  Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society: A Historical and Theoretical Reflection on Collectivist and Individualist Societies , 1994, Journal of Political Economy.

[46]  J. Montgomery.  Revisting Tally's Corner , 1994 .

[47]  S. Kolm.  The theory of reciprocity and of the choice of economic systems: an introduction , 1994 .

[48]  Glenn Ellison,et al.  Word-of-Mouth Communication and Social Learning , 1995 .

[49]  E. Glaeser,et al.  Crime and Social Interactions , 1995 .

[50]  W. Brock,et al.  Discrete Choice with Social Interactions I: Theory , 1995 .

[51]  I. Luckey.  : American Apartheid: Segregation and the Making of the Underclass , 1995 .

[52]  Vai-Lam Mui,et al.  The Economics of Envy , 1995 .

[53]  Roland Bénabou,et al.  Heterogeneity, Stratification, and Growth: Macroeconomic Implications of Community Structure and School Finance , 1996 .

[54]  Joshua M. Epstein,et al.  Growing Artificial Societies: Social Science from the Bottom Up , 1996 .