'It is who knows you'. The positions of university students regarding intentional investment in social capital

This article presents an investigation based on in-depth interviews with 33 university students and eight discussion groups, aimed at finding out which discourses and positions mobilize college students in terms of social networking practices. It analyses how they construct meanings and question or legitimize their own actions or those of others, and how they contribute to the creation of different moral orders with reference to the relational practices that occur at the university and professional levels. Based on information provided by the students, it was found that they used three positions in relation to networking practices, the socio-affective, pragmatic and context-contingent. Some of the implications of these positions for the development of university career and guidance programmes are also analysed.