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SOCIAL CAPITAL: BENEFITS OF HUMAN SOCIABILITY

We provide training, research and reporting, facilitation and presentation services in relation to social capital, particularly for organisations

Guide to Social Capital
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AN INTRIGUING INTEGRATION OF SOCIOLOGY & ECONOMICS

Social capital is fundamentally about how people interact with each other, how they work together, share, help, and collaborate. 

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SOCIAL CAPITAL & ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE

The core of our business is working with organisations that would like to improve their social capital and organisational culture.

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Latest Articles

The “wicked problems” of social capital theory

March 9, 2021

Social capital in the formation of local institutions and their contribution to territorial governance

December 14, 2020

Social norms and social sanctions An aspect of the relational dimension of social capital

December 13, 2020

Applicability of Social Capital by the World Bank in Brazilian Poor Spaces

November 29, 2020

Informal Sanctions

October 29, 2020

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Why is social capital important?

How isn’t it? Social capital is entwined in so much of our lives without us being aware of it. However, the more we are aware of it’s importance, the more we are likely to see it’s benefits. 

Working together

Without social capital humans could not work together. This is because social capital is the shared values, norms, trust, and belonging that make social exchange possible.

Better leadership

An understanding of social capital improves leadership capabilities. It can support the improvement of organizational culture because it considers factors often overlooked.

It's capital

A lot of attention is paid to financial capital, human capital, natural capital etc. All forms of capital have benefits to an organization but some are often not given their due attention. Ignoring social capital can exacerbate issues within your organization.

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Social Capital Research

Social Capital Research
In this webinar, Professor Robison will reflect on his more than 35 years of research on social capital and propose a new line of inquiry that could allow for alternative explanations of predictably irrational behavior. He will employ Social Identity Theory to help us understand the relationship between social capital and cheap social capital. Professor Robison will also discuss the difference between earned and inherited commonality and their relationship to linking and bonding social capital. By considering social identity and inclusion and exclusion, Professor Robison is able to consider a side of social capital that is often overlooked or underappreciated. He discusses these ideas in relation to a range of real-world examples and proposes several directions for future research in this area. The slide deck for this session is available at https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Lindon.CSC_.sem_.2021.9.17.pdf The webinar was on Friday September 17, 2021 and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by Social Capital Research https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/ as part of the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/socialcapitalresearch and LinkedIn group https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13975650/
Professor Lindon J. Robison: High Cost of Cheap Social Capital
YouTube Video UC6NOu8v0Oe8xaLn4UK9s36g_4rLrIgdJuk4
In this webinar, Dr Rick Mask will examine the constructs of Relational Capital, Cognitive Capital, and Structural Capital. We will review how these three constructs form social capital and how cognitive bias can impact social capital creation. We will then cover the five practices of exemplary leadership covered in “The Leadership Challenge” and note how these five practices tie into the constructs of social capital. The webinar was on Thursday July 22, 2021 and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by Social Capital Research https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/ as part of the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/socialcapitalresearch
Dr Rick L. Mask: Leadership through Social Capital
YouTube Video UC6NOu8v0Oe8xaLn4UK9s36g_Fz7LOpGuzwo
In this webinar, Professor Daniel Aldrich discusses The Role of Social Ties in Shocks and Crises. The 11 March 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and associated tsunami and nuclear meltdowns took nearly 20,000 lives, created half a million refugees, and affected energy policies as far away as Germany, Switzerland, and Italy. In Japan, mortality rates in coastal communities in the Tohoku region were not constant; instead, they varied widely from town to town. During the recovery period, some towns have rebuilt damaged infrastructure, reopened schools, and repopulated downtowns. Others have not been as successful. Finally, mental health and anxiety levels have varied across those forced to flee from the Fukushima nuclear disaster. What explains the variation in mortality, recovery and mental health during the tsunami and recovery after the disaster? Using data gathered from fieldwork, interviews, and surveys, Aldrich looks closely at the role of social capital and networks to provide concrete suggestions for ways to help us survive and thrive in disaster. While many of us envision disaster mitigation in terms of physical infrastructure, the findings instead point to the power of social infrastructure to reduce mortality and accelerate post disaster recovery. The webinar was on Friday July 9, 2021 and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by Social Capital Research https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/ as part of the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/socialcapitalresearch
Prof. Daniel Aldrich - The Role of Social Ties in Shocks and Crises
YouTube Video UC6NOu8v0Oe8xaLn4UK9s36g_KrigZEcL77Y
Professor Daniel Aldrich Webinar
YouTube Video UC6NOu8v0Oe8xaLn4UK9s36g_v3JW0XZ8ZP0
In this webinar, Professor Gregory Fulkerson discusses Disaster and the Destruction of Social Capital: The Effect of a COVID Outbreak on a College Campus. This presentation will consider the impact of a COVID outbreak on social capital by comparing survey data from two colleges. One college had no outbreak and serves as a control. The other college experienced a devastating outbreak in the Fall of 2020. As the same survey questions were asked of each college, we are able to compare the impact of the outbreak on social capital, as indicated by questions surrounding trust in others to engage in protective practices such as masking and social distancing. This quasi-experimental design provides evidence that disasters can be harmful to level of social capital. The broader literature on disasters and social capital will inform the analysis and interpretation. The webinar was on Friday June 25, 2021 and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by Social Capital Research https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/ as part of the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/socialcapitalresearch
Prof. Gregory Fulkerson - Disaster and the Destruction of Social Capital
YouTube Video UC6NOu8v0Oe8xaLn4UK9s36g_gbURxPbE7tc
In this webinar, Professor Gregory Fulkerson discusses Disaster and the Destruction of Social Capital: The Effect of a COVID Outbreak on a College Campus. This presentation will consider the impact of a COVID outbreak on social capital by comparing survey data from two colleges. One college had no outbreak and serves as a control. The other college experienced a devastating outbreak in the Fall of 2020. As the same survey questions were asked of each college, we are able to compare the impact of the outbreak on social capital, as indicated by questions surrounding trust in others to engage in protective practices such as masking and social distancing. This quasi-experimental design provides evidence that disasters can be harmful to level of social capital. The broader literature on disasters and social capital will inform the analysis and interpretation. The webinar was on Friday June 25, 2021 and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by Social Capital Research https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/ as part of the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/socialcapitalresearch
Prof. Gregory Fulkerson - Disaster and the Destruction of Social Capital
YouTube Video UC6NOu8v0Oe8xaLn4UK9s36g_UmcgHt-GCfE
In this webinar, Associate Professor Paul Haynes discusses his previous work on social capital and his current work on assemblages. According to Ben Fine: “social capital is to social science as McDonald’s is to gourmet food” (Fine 2010: 21). While this is not exactly a great endorsement, it suggests that they are comprised of the same entities, which offers the possibility, at least, to conceptualise what can be done to make the social capital concept more appetising for social theorists. This presentation begins by identifying some of the weaknesses of the social capital concept and offers an approach with which to address these limitations. Using insights from the work of Deleuze and Guattari (but not DeLanda!), social capital can be retrofitted into social assemblages. This promises to give more specificity to the structure of social capital and more insight into the mechanisms through which assemblages are shaped. The webinar was on Friday June 11, 2021 and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by Social Capital Research https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/ as part of the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/socialcapitalresearch
Associate Professor Paul Haynes: Assembling Social Capital
YouTube Video UC6NOu8v0Oe8xaLn4UK9s36g_WpTAsSCvP4k
In this webinar, Dr Evangelos Ntontis discusses how climate change is increasing the prevalence and impact of extreme events, which may have severe psychosocial aftereffects for the people and communities who are affected. To mitigate their impact, governments advocate developing community resilience. Most approaches to community resilience employ the concept of social capital, suggesting that communities with more dense preexisting networks of trust and reciprocity are more likely to prepare for, respond to, and recover more effectively from disasters. Notwithstanding the benefits of the social capital approach in explaining aspects of community resilience, I will argue that social capital cannot account for microprocesses of disaster behavior regarding the mobilization of communities and the emergence of groups in absence of pre-existing bonds or networks. Using empirical research I will demonstrate how community resilience theorizing can benefit through insights from the social identity approach in social psychology and principles of collective psychosocial resilience—the way that shared identification allows groups to emerge, coordinate, express solidarity, and provide social support. Overall, I will argue that this approach can overcome the limitations of social capital because it can explain the processes of group behavior in disasters, promotes bottom-up approaches to community resilience, recognizes emergent communities, and suggests evidence-based recommendations for policy and practice. The links between social capital and the social identity approach will also be discussed. The webinar was on Friday June 11, 2021 and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by Social Capital Research https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/ as part of the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/socialcapitalresearch
Dr Evangelos Ntontis: What lies beyond social capital?
YouTube Video UC6NOu8v0Oe8xaLn4UK9s36g_N29Av46tzJw
In this webinar, Professor Eric M. Uslaner, Professor of Government and Politics at University of Maryland–College Park discusses Trust, Segregation, and National Identity. The webinar was on Thursday May 27, 2021 and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by Social Capital Research https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/ as part of the Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/socialcapitalresearch Social cohesion is a multifaceted concept including generalized trust, measures of well-being such as socio-economic conditions (are people thriving, suffering, or struggling) and whether they accept diversity, and national identity (belonging to a nation and deserving its welfare benefits). I first consider trust, moving from what constitutes trust in different scenarios, how they differ from each other, which forms of trust are most stable, and how best to measure trust. I then consider determinants of trust, specifically inequality and segregation. Then I consider well-being and its determinants and focus on the historical role of education in shaping both trust and finally, I consider variants of well-being and their determinants. I pay particular attention to the inclusivity of trust and how feelings about identity shape politics–and how political views are shaped by how the less inclusive sense of identity affects how deserving minorities are for government programs by the majority. Eric M. Uslaner is Professor of Government and Politics at the University of Maryland–College Park. He the author of eleven books, including The Historical Roots of Corruption (Cambridge University Press, 2017), The Moral Foundations of Trust (Cambridge University Press, 2002; Chinese translation, Chinese Social Sciences Press, 2007; Korean translation, Today’s Books, 2014), Corruption, Inequality, and the Rule of Law: (Cambridge University Press, 2008; paperback, 2010; Chinese translation forthcoming 2018, Chinese Social Sciences Press; Japanese translation, Nippon Hyoron Sha, 2011), Segregation and Mistrust: Diversity, Isolation, and Social Cohesion (Cambridge University Press, 2012), The Movers and the Shirkers (University of Michigan Pressk 1999), The Decline of Comity in Congress (University of Michigan Press, 1993), Shale Barrel Politics (Stanford University Press, 1989) and approximately 200 articles. He is the editor of the Oxford Handbook of Social and Political Trust (Oxford University Press, 2018). He has been a consultant to the United Nations Human Development Fund and the Taihe Institute of Beijing, China. He is also a Research Associate for the Gallup Organization and the co-editor with Nils Holtug of National Identity and Social Cohesion (ECPR Press, 2021) and with Chong-Min Kim, Inequality and Democratic Poltics in East Asia (Routledge, 2019).
Prof Eric Uslaner: Trust, Segregation, and National Identity
YouTube Video UC6NOu8v0Oe8xaLn4UK9s36g_8k9XcXSObCg
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Academic interest in social capital

Over the last three decades the concept of social capital has swept across the social sciences, into the physical sciences, and virtually every area of academic enquiry. It has been adopted outside of academia; in politics, business, and international development, to name a few. But some people have suggested that its popularity is in decline. The data, however, does not support this view.

This short video illustrates the rise of social capital in different fields using data from the Web of Science database. It shows how the number of publications on social capital has increased in each field over time.

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