Intra–and inter–household network capital

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to outline the theoretical model of an empirical piece of research we plan to carry out in the next two years. Our model emphasizes the intertwined nature of intra-household processes such as production, consumption, and reproduction. As for intra-household processes, our approach treats household members not as isolated actors but as interrelated within the household. The focus of our analysis is network capital, which (1) on the individual level expresses the activity of a household member in interhousehold networks (e.g. contacting relatives), (2) on the intra-household relational level assesses the position of household members as regards each other (relations among network-poor and network-rich household members), and (3) on the household level refers to the aggregated value and structure of the households’ network capital (e.g. network-poor and network-rich households). The structure of the paper is as follows: after introducing our household concept in general, we outline the alternative concepts of household as a firm and the “container” of reproductive processes. In the next chapters we outline the concept of network capital, and operationalize this idea as an intertwined model of intra- and inter-household processes. Next, we develop an extended household model and incorporate our network capital approach into this. Finally, we outline the next steps we intend to take towards empirically verifying our model by selecting a “best of” collection of previous empirical analyses about inter- and intra-household processes.