Social capital: Internships

The concept of social capital refers to the “networks of influence” people are able to create and key into through the course of their lives and an interesting example linked to family, education and work is the contemporary practice of internship. This frequently involves the ability to work for a potential employer for free in the hope / expectation of being offered a permanent position at some later point. It also represents a way to gain valuable (and valued) experience in a potentially competitive job market.

However, since the ability to work for nothing is clearly linked to having some form of independent / parental support it follows that the general practice of internship is shot-through with social inequalities – can you identify what some of these may involve?

Poll suggests privilege is key to landing internships