Beauty and Social Capital

The central goal of this chapter is to map the relationship between beauty and social capital, and to answer the question of whether attractive people have more friends and social contacts that give them preferential access to important information or other benefits, or even direct benefits. The chapter begins by reviewing existing psychological and sociological studies that show that people prefer to associate and form bonds with more attractive people, which in turn increases their chances of accumulating stronger social capital; however, this social network is less dense with weaker ties that are primarily aimed at the mutually beneficial exchange of useful information. The next section discusses the different measures and operationalizations of both beauty and social capital. An empirical case from the Czech Republic is then presented, which shows that individuals with very above-average attractiveness are about three to four times more likely to have high levels of social activity and reciprocal social capital than individuals with very below-average attractiveness, especially women. In future comparative research, it would be useful to take into account the differences between the Czech Republic and other countries and to examine the stability of the empirical findings in a cultural and longitudinal perspective and their consistency in relation to gender.