Social Capital

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Social Capital Social capital has gained tremendous popularity in recent years, driven in large part by the work of James Coleman, Pierre Bourdieu, and Robert Putaman. This increased attention for social capital is evident among several research topics, conference papers, dissertations, and educational journals. Social capital is the name given to a store of value generated when a group of individuals invests resources in fostering a body of relationships with each other (a "social network"). These relationships, it is argued, create trust by fostering shared norms, improve contract enforcement by easing information flows, and enhance sanctions against deviant behavior by facilitating collective action. Hence the real meaning of social capital is the quality of social relations. It is the quality of relationships, understood through the use of the concept “social capital”, which affects the capacity of people to come together to collectively resolve problems they face in common (Stewart-Weeks and Richardson, 1998), and achieve outcomes of mutual benefit (Lochner et al. 1999). Thus, social capital can be understood as a resource to collective action, which may lead to a broad range of outcomes, of varying social scale. For individuals, this can mean access to the reciprocal, trusting social connections that help the processes of getting by or getting ahead. For communities, social capital reflects the ability of community members to participate, cooperate, organise and interact (Cavaye 2001). The narrowest concept of social capital is associated with Putnam. Putnam defines social capital... ... middle of paper ... ...nternet Sources ================ Trust and action: Social capital and non0govermental organisations http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~poli/NewsandEvents/UGRC2003/miles.pdf. Building social capital http://www.kltprc.net/books/contextofchange/Chpt_31.htm Social capital for development http://www1.worldbank.org/prem/poverty/scapital/SChowmeas1.htm Community formation and social capital in Australia http://www.aifs.gov.au/institute/afrc7/giorgas.pdf The myth of social capital in community development http://www.fanniemaefoundation.org/programs/hpd/pdf/HPD_1204_defilippis.pdf Social Capital, Regeneration and Urban Policy http://www.bristol.ac.uk/sps/cnrpapersword/cnr15pap.doc. People empowerment vs. social capital. From health promotion to social marketing. http://www.ldb.org/perth99.htm

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