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 […]
What is Structural Social Capital?
Structural social capital is a dimension of social capital that relates to the properties of the social system and of the network of relations as a whole. The term describes the impersonal configuration of linkages between people or units. It is the configuration and pattern of connections between people and includes the roles, rules, precedents, […]
What is Linking Social Capital?
Linking social capital is a type of social capital that describes norms of respect and networks of trusting relationships between people who are interacting across explicit, formal or institutionalized power or authority gradients in society . These relationships are described as ‘vertical’ and the key feature is differences in social position or power. An example […]
What is Bridging Social Capital?
Bridging social capital is a type of social capital that describes connections that link people across a cleavage that typically divides society (such as race, or class, or religion). It is associations that ‘bridge’ between communities, groups, or organisations. Bridging social capital is different from bonding social capital, which is within social groups and is […]
What is Bonding Social Capital?
Bonding social capital is a type of social capital that describes connections within a group or community characterised by high levels of similarity in demographic characteristics, attitudes, and available information and resources. Bonding social capital exists between ‘people like us’ who are ‘in it together’ and who typically have strong close relationships. Examples include family […]
Approaches to conceptualise bonding/bridging social capital
Export Reference Download PDF Print Although the distinction between bonding social capital and bridging social capital may immediately seem straightforward, there is an underlying conceptual ambiguity plaguing the current theoretical literature. I have discussed bonding social capital as networks of people who are similar in some important way, and networks of people who typically associate […]
How do new employees learn about your organisational culture? What does this mean for social capital?
You’ve finally enticed a extremely talented and highly sought-after professional to join your organisation, but now you’re going to drop them in the barrel with all the other fish and see how they swim… Our recruits enter their new organisation as outsiders who have to ‘learn the ropes’. But what if your organisation has some […]
