9/20/2010

Social Capital Theory

As defined in Phillips and Pittman's book (2009), "Social capital is that set of resources intrinsic to social relations and includes trust, norms, and networks. It is often correlated with confidence in public institutions, civic engagement, self-reliant economic development, and overall community well-being and happiness." Application Networks of people share their assets (money, tangible goods or information) to improve the position of the people within the group. Often can be seen as exclusive; instead of benefiting the whole it only benefits the few within society. Adaptation Social capital can be inclusive for the benefit of everyone within a community. For example, communities can promote healthy living by growing their own fruits and vegetables and sharing, exchanging or selling them at a low cost. In urban areas, groups can start local sport groups or exercise groups, such as walking or running on a daily basis.

2 comments:

  1. Apply: social capital building can be useful to community development both in its bonding form and in its bridging form. building bonding social capital is useful in communities in which networks of communication and trust have been damaged. encouraging bridging social capital can help communities reach out across their borders to create larger collaborations.
    Adapt: social capital in the sense of building social capital is indispensable to community development. however, active destruction of social capital can also be encountered, especially in totalitarian regimes, like communism in eastern europe. driving wedges between people by spying, surveillance, and fear effectively destroys social networks and breeds mistrust between people, making them more easy to control.

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