How to connect communities to create opportunities

From a report by the Behavioural Insights Team

Social capital describes the connections, shared values, and trust that form in communities, helping people work together for everyone’s benefit. Our relationships shape critical life outcomes, from the jobs we get, to whether we end up in jail, to our overall wellbeing. Yet UK policymakers have largely overlooked social capital, partly due to measurement challenges and limited evidence on how to build it. (See also this article - Bringing back the power of community)

Recent studies by Raj Chetty, Professor of Economics at Harvard University, and colleagues used Facebook friendship data to map social capital across US communities and identified strong links between social networks and economic outcomes. They found that economic connectedness (the extent to which people from lower-income backgrounds form friendships with those from higher-income backgrounds) is a key driver of intergenerational social mobility.

To test whether similar patterns exist in the UK, the Behavioural Insights Team analysed 6 billion friendships from 20 million UK Facebook users. They then visited over 20 neighbourhoods, interviewing residents from different economic backgrounds to understand why some communities build stronger connections than others. These insights then informed policy recommendations, developed through community workshops and expert roundtables.

The key findings were:

1. UK friendships bridge income divides. Low-income people have 47% of their friendships with high-income people, compared with 39% in the US. The South shows far more mixing than post-industrial areas in the North East. 
2. Cross-class friendships link to higher earnings for low-income children. Low-income children who grow up in areas with the most cross-class connections earn 28% (£2,924 per year) more at age 28 than those from the least connected areas.
3. ‘Long ties’ predict who escapes poverty. Friendships beyond usual social circles strongly predict mobility, especially in deprived neighbourhoods. Small increases in friendships with no mutual connections matter. Areas averaging just one additional long tie per 100 friends see low-income children earn 9.3% (£959 per year) at age 28.
4. Most connections form locally but segregation limits mixing. Neighbourhoods and schools are where most friendships form, yet both remain segregated by income. Even in mixed areas, people often stick to their own economic group. Universities excel at cross-class mixing but remain less accessible to people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
5. Proximity alone does not create bonds. Shared activities do. Our research across 20+ neighbourhoods revealed that placing diverse economic groups together fails without meaningful interaction. Inclusive workplace cultures and community activities with universal appeal create opportunities for people from different backgrounds to connect.
6. Neighbourhood design shapes social divides as powerfully as community centres unite them. Built environment features like school gate layouts that facilitate parent conversations can enable cross-class connections as much as poorly designed spaces block them.
7. Small interventions can build lasting bridges. Recommendations are; reforming school admissions to mix income groups, creating civic service programmes that unite young people across divides, and shifting power to residents through community asset ownership and participatory budgeting.

The Behavioural Insights Team believe that what works in connected communities can scale. It starts with giving communities real control over funding and assets. It requires school admissions that blend backgrounds, youth initiatives crafted to bridge divides, and settings and experiences that transform closeness into friendship. Investments do not always need to be large to create meaningful change.

Policymakers have spent generations working on equalising access to economic and human capital, but have overlooked social capital as a similarly vital resource. Building bridges between people may be the most important infrastructure investment we never make. The data shows us where to start. The communities show us how.

Download the full report here.