Social Capital and Secondary Schooling: Interurban Differences in American Teenage Enrollment Rates in 1950

Abstract

This article considers the influence of social capital on secondary enrollments in American cities in 1950. Data from the U.S. census are utilized to analyze enrollment rates across metropolitan areas with populations greater than 500,000. The effects of adult education levels and poverty rates were linked to social capital; employment patterns and the size of various ethnic groups also affected enrollment levels. Overall, trends were similar to those observed in studies of earlier periods, but this article identifies certain urban milieus where community values may have encouraged high school attendance, representing a departure from earlier patterns. Characteristics of particular communities and forms of social capital related to school attendance are discussed.