Social Capital Essay

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.

Depending on the source the definition varies to some extent but here it is defined as “social networks, the reciprocities that arise from them and the value of these for achieving (mutual) goals” (3). Given this definition, social capital can be further subdivided into structural and cognitive social capital (3). Structural social capital refers to the forms and ways that social organizations and networks cooperate and interact with each other. Cognitive social capital on the other hand, has to do with the norms, values, attitudes and beliefs that come about from the interactions of communities through social organizations and networks (3). Building upon these concepts, it is through the involvement with these social networks that peoples’ health is influenced, specifically sexually related behaviors (3).

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

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

For this reading reflection on Chapter eight from Berkman, was based on social capital, social cohesion, and health. By the introduction of the chapter, it goes over the definition of social capital and its theoretical pathways that links into health. According to the text, social capital is being defined as “resources that are accessed by individuals as a result of their membership of a network or a group” (Berkman 291). For the theoretical pathways of social capital to health, it goes over the three group-level mechanisms merit that is relevant to health outcomes is social contagion, informal social control, and collective efficacy, where they all benefit to their group such as a community (Berkman 293). However, there is a dark side to social

According to Social Capital and Mental Illness: A Systematic Review, social capital is a combination of social groups, associational life, community involvement, and trust in others. Social capital can happen through informal and formal establishments. An example of informal establishment is a community or financial status group. Formal establishments can occur through groups like neighborhoods and government structures. Singular social capital can be viewed as a measure of one’s evaluation of their surroundings, their interpersonal organizations, and their level of cooperation in their group. Social withdrawal is when one suffering with mental illness is more averse to having dynamic influence of a group. Based on this, it would be expected that one with a mental illness would score poorly on individual social capital

Alejandro Portes discuss the controversy surrounding the actual meaning and effects of social capital. Confusion arises due its applications to manifold topics as well as its uses on different group of people. He provided the concept by Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman which centered on the benefits of social capital on an individual or a small group. He argued that Coleman focused on the advantages yielded to individual and then expand them to the whole community with subtlety. This transition is not well-defined and thus put social capital at risk of becoming synonymous with all positive things in

Social construction is the basis in which we create a meaning of something through our interaction in society. (video) These meanings are generally accepted throughout society but are completely created. These creations of meanings are what groups recognize and attach understanding to. Most of social construction is already ingrained in us without even realizing it. In social construction, the meanings that are attached reinforce knowledge of reality. (video)

| Social capital is productive potential resulting from strong relationships, goodwill, trust, and cooperative effort.

Today, belonging to a group or community gives us a sense of identity to improve our lives. What are the components for improving our lives, community and wellbeing? Discussion between two great writers, Matthew Lieberman, author of Social and Moisés Naim, the author of The End of Power. Both authors share their views on social connectivity as a means of gaining power to improve lives and societies. According to Naim, he believes that “When people are better nourished, healthier, more educated, and more connected with others, it locks in power ,” pg 58 and having power allows those community to improves their lives. In the same way, Lieberman’s believes that “we are social creatures and being social can improve our lives and society.” Lieberman goes on to say that his

Social capital refers to the patterns of relationships that people have that are characterized by reciprocity and trust which result in access to resources like jobs, social services, or contracts. Social capital is both structural and procedural. Relationships, as they are studied by community organizers, have a network structure. But this is does not address the quality of the relationships, which is actually more evident in the procedures or actions that result from capitalizing on the relationships.

The author cited clear review of literature. The one theory, social capital theory that the

Social economics is the study of social and economic factors, better known as Socioeconomics. We continue to examine and study individual’s socioeconomic status, by examining a person’s annual income, education and occupation. A person’s perceived social position in relation to others is due to their income, education, and job. Then when found in the company of those alike, they are considered a socioeconomic group. You can classify different socioeconomic group by race, region, gender etc. This research focus will be about comparing race and ethnicity coupled with various regions in relation to Social Capital.

Social capital can be found any many different forms, but when discussing similarities and difference in church and the workplace it is very close to comparing apples and oranges. My view is that when we are at work there is not much time for talking of politics, except for a small time frame during lunch, the occasional smoke break (if you’re a smoker). Although there are other small bites of time in passing that there is a sporadic case of networking that is happening while in passing. One of the biggest reason for the decline for social capital in the workplace are unions are not as common as they were in earlier years. Since the mid 1950’s unions have tumbled from 32.5% to 14.1% (Putnam, 2000, p. 81). The cause for this decline of unions in today’s work I feel stems from not needing unions since there already is so many other labor enforcement protection agencies in place unions are a thing of the past. Large and growing fraction of the American workforce has nonstandard jobs (temp-workers, independent contractors, on call workers) ( (Putnam, 2000, p. 90). Additionally, the economy and the lack of well-paying jobs are still in hiding, regardless what is being reported. According to a Roper poll the proportion of Americans satisfied with their jobs fell from 46% in mid-1970’s to 36% in 1992; some of this disaffection is traceable to concerns of about job security and personal finances (Putnam, 2000, p. 91).

In other words if we lose confidence to society, social capital will not be formed or will break.