The High Cost of Cheap Social Capital
This paper briefly reviews the theory of social, negative, and cheap social capital and then explains the popularity and the high cost of cheap social capital. Next, this paper points out that our voluntary exchanges (which are enabled by prospects of mutual gain) and the high cost of involuntary exchanges (which are entered into in response to threats and defensive and destructive acts) both reflect our responses to the same physical and socio-emotional needs. Therefore, what differentiates our responses to similar needs are the relationships we have with others—whether they are social, negative, or cheap. Finally, this paper offers some suggestions for avoiding the high cost of cheap social capital.
The Cheap Side of Social Capital
Earned, inherited, and covenant commonalities enable persons and groups of people to develop sympathy and empathy for each other. The sympathy and empathy that one person or group has for another person or group is defined here as social capital. The absence of commonalities often results in relationships of apathy and antipathy that one person or group has for another person or group, defined here as negative social capital. People and groups that share negative social capital for the same person or group can form cheap social capital relationships characterized by the couplet—the enemy of my enemy is my strange bedfellow.
The difference between social capital and cultural capital
Export Reference Download PDF Print The concepts of social capital and cultural capital are similar and overlap in some significant ways depending on the meaning attributed to each concept. Cultural capital has at least two different meanings, and social capital has a multiplicity of definitions that can be grouped into at least four different broad […]
Evolution of the concept of social capital
Export Reference Download PDF Print The term ‘social capital’ was virtually unknown until the 1990s, since which time it has rapidly increased in popularity and spread throughout academia and beyond to become a familiar term in community development, business, and politics, and is even entering popular language. The terms ‘social capital’ was used as early […]
Social capital at different levels and dimensions A typology of social capital
Export Reference Download PDF Print Social capital has been criticised for being incredibly broad and potentially related to everything, a kind of catch-all. It is often treated differently in different contexts and at different levels of analysis. Some authors treat social capital as a private good, some as a public good, and others as having […]
Criticisms of social capital theory And lessons for improving practice
Export Reference Download PDF Print Discussing criticisms allows us to focus our attention on the potential weaknesses of the concept & our application of it. Social capital has been perceived as a miracle concept that is able to provide answers to a range of phenomena beyond an economic lens. Its rapid and wide application has […]
Explanation of the different levels of social capital
One of the key questions about social capital is where or at what level of society it resides. Does it reside with the individual like human capital? Or is it a property of society more generally? Or in fact, is it both the property of individuals and of society? The question of whether social capital […]
Structural, cognitive, relational social capital
The distinction between structural, cognitive, and relational social capital was made by Janine Nahapiet and Sumantra Ghoshal and forms the most widely used and accepted framework for understanding social capital. These dimensions are conceptual distinctions that are useful for analytic convenience but in practice social capital involves complex interrelations between the three dimensions. Level of […]
What is Relational Social Capital?
Relational social capital is a dimension of social capital that relates to the characteristics and qualities of personal relationships such as trust, obligations, respect and even friendship. The key aspects of the relational dimension of social capital are trust and trustworthiness, norms and sanctions, obligations and expectations, and identity and identification. Relational social capital is […]
What is Cognitive Social Capital?
Cognitive social capital is a dimension of social capital that relates to resources providing shared representations, interpretations, and systems of meaning among parties. It is the cognitive schemes and systems of meaning as exhibited in common vocabulary and narratives. Cognitive social capital is the shared language and codes that provide the foundation for communication. Cognitive […]
