system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Do poorer people have larger social networks?

I read a lot about sociology and poverty. And one thing that pops up frequently is how poor people with kids call on their parents or sisters or cousins to watch their children. Among my college-educated friends with children sometimes the grandparents watch the kids but it's not this endless list of relatives who hang out with their kids. It made me wonder if being poor gives you more options for a social network when it comes to your children?
gpt
Ruby Payne talks about this a lot in her book, *A Framework for Understanding Poverty*. She writes that people in poverty rely on social networks for survival. Middle class people rely on social networks for social capital, and wealthy people rely on social networks for connection to power. Because poorer people rely so closely on their social connections for survival and managing life, they tend to have closer and more codependent relationships. You work nights, so your mom takes the kids to school, your aunt picks them up and takes care of them until you wake up, etc. Family and friends are built into the fabric of day to day existing, where as a middle class or wealthy person doesn’t need to rely on social networks in the same way.