Social dynamics, university experiences, and graduates' job outcomes

In Canada, little attention has been paid to the extent to which job outcomes are the result of the human capital honed in university or of broader social dynamics. Combining the fundamental insights of status attainment and cultural reproduction theories with propositions of the college impact model, the current study examines the effects of cultural, social and human capital on four job outcomes two years after graduation from a Canadian university. Overall, it is found that variables measuring cultural and human capital have independent effects on job outcomes; however, the impact of social capital is minimal. The findings suggest that graduates' job outcomes are connected to broader social dynamics as well as to what they might learn in university.