Coleman Social Capital

Social capital is the is the social connections that allow for social interactions in which an individual has opportunities to build bonds, help others out, and affect change for the better. When the social engagement is reciprocated, it can produce benefits for the multiple individuals engaged in the activity and so further the circumstance of the society.

Social capital is defined as the capacity of social institutions, such as families, churches, schools, or other community organizations to make an investment of attention and advice, support and concerned interest in other community members according to reformer L.J. Hanifan. As a dependent of the community social capital is applied to my everyday life. It helps me to obtain resources for my education such as scholarships, teaches me how to work together with my peers, becoming a positive role model to youth, and build trusting relationships with others in the community. Social capital is seen as a support group from leaders in the community.

Social Construction is defined by Society: the Basics as “the process by which people creatively shape reality through social

Community is built of two main elements. First, community requires communal caring. Members need to put themselves in positions where they are able to relate to other members and does everything “within reasonable limits of self-sacrifice” (65). The second is communal reciprocity. Individuals will serve other members of the community, not for exchange of goods, but to provide generosity and support. These elements of community appear in the lives of all individuals, even the most capitalist ones. Humans are entirely capable of these.

When discussing why societies are better with deep social capital, Putnam writes “dense networks of interaction probably broaden the participants' sense of self, developing the "I" into the "we” (Putnam, 1995, pp. 2-3). To me, this means that when people are not concerned with only themselves but also with others, things like peace building and community involvement occur. In terms of peace building, if social capital was dense and I had a high social capital level, when something intrigued me and drove me to advocate for peace such as ending violence, it wouldn’t be a fight that I was starting alone but instead the “we” would help fight this battle. For me, this means that if I really want to make a difference in this world, I need to be more involved and increase my social capital. By doing so, I can impact others to do the same and the chances of building peace as a community would be greater. Furthermore, the piece in the article where he ties the whole concept of social capital and its decline to bowling really hit home for me. When it is put in perspective in such a way that Putnam did to describe how even bowling has decreased in profits because people prefer now to bowl alone rather than a s a group or in a league, it really forced one to reflect upon their own involvement. (Putnam, 2010). If as a society and even myself we continue to not fully engage with others but rather masked by technology and our own life circumstances, peace will never be built. As someone who believes in social justice, I know that peace is something I want to help build and thus need to change my social capital

Students who do not have stable parenting at home can lead to students dropping out. In the article “How Broken Families Rob Children of Their Chances for Future Prosperity” it discusses broken families earn less and experience lower levels of educational achievement. In 1950 the number of children living with broken families was 12 for every 100; 42 years later in 1992 the number grew to 58 for every 100 children born. A professor at the University of Michigan did a study to find the average family income for one-parent families compared to two parent families. Her studies showed that the average income for one-parent families is $25,300 and the average income for two-parent family income is $43,600. Students growing up in a stable and two-parent family have better chances of reaching income security as adults. A truly saddening fact is that almost half of American families go through poverty after divorce. The poverty and divorce of the adults leads to problems for the children. When children do not have a stable family, their parents sometimes

A very popular and renowned researcher in the field of sociology is Mark Granovetter who thoroughly investigated the marginal value of strong and weak ties in social networks. He concluded, that “social systems lacking in weak ties will be fragmented and incoherent. New ideas will spread slowly, scientific endeavors will be handicapped, and subgroups … will have difficulty reaching a modus Vivendi” (Granovetter, 1983, p. 202)”. To sum it up: the more links between several dense

According to many such as Reed-Danahay, Pierre Bourdieu, a French sociologist of the 20th century is recognized as being among the most instrumental sociologists of our epoch. According to Bourdieu, one’s existence is not merely to exist but in reality is to find existence within a social context in order to find recognition. According to Bourdieu, individuals strengthen and reproduce their social status within a specific class through the use of cultural and social capital. Social capital is defined as one’s association with important connections or involvement within society whereas cultural capital is outlined as an individual’s level of knowledge, experiences and education. He argues that social capital and cultural capital is equally

The final form of capital Bourdieu goes over is social capital. He mentions that “social capital, made up of social obligations (‘connections’), which is convertible, in certain conditions, into economic capital and may be institutionalized in the forms of a title of nobility” (Bourdieu 1986, p.243). Social capital is a way to gain both cultural and economic capital. Belonging to a certain group allows a person access to things people within those groups

Children from single parent homes are not as negatively impacted academically as some in the popular media suggest. The number of children living in single-parent homes has risen dramatically over the last 10 years. Despite prior research stating that single-parenting itself has a negative impact on academic achievement, new findings show that it is other social and environmental factors that have a much greater impact. There are several theories that can be used to study the way family structure influences academic achievement, as well as to demonstrate the influence of other factors such as poverty and family resources. When these

Social capital refers to the quality of interactions among people and whether they share a common perspective. The culture of an organization contributes to the level of social capital an organization can achieve. When social capital in an organization is high you will find strong positive relationships built on honesty, trust, respect and mutual understanding. This motivates people to

There has been considerable and growing interest in social capital theory in current years, evidenced by its relevance to various disciplines and numerous subject areas. This interest stems from the appeal of the concept as it integrates sociology and economics, and combines a number of ideas including civic tradition, civicness, civic involvement and social cohesion. Existing studies have suggested that social capital has considerable benefits for a range of economic and sociological outcomes. These purported benefits, and the concept behind social capital, are not new but rooted in the work of early economic and sociologic thinkers.

It is common saying that, man is a social animal and a person cannot survive without a society [Hamirani 2008].

Through social capital, there is a spontaneous cooperation within the people. Spontaneous cooperation emphasizes the value of trust, and the importance of being both reliable and honest as a

One theme that emerged in our course discussion was that humans are in desperate need of community, but our social structure dictates that community is not a priority -- our main objective is to produce and acquire, and through this misguided and rather