Assertions > Social capital

29 November 2007



Jane Mejdahl

Posted in social capital

Assertions:

  • I assert that social capital is a productive force, meaning that trust, norms of behaviour, obligations, and reciprocity will influence effectiveness, abilitity to innovate, develop, and thrive, as well as loyalty amongst co-workers
  • I assert a social perspective on the notion of social capital. Thus I believe that the production of social capital depends on context. This means that a. some people in a network are better at generating trust and reciprocity, and thereby better at playing the game*. b. Content, meaning, and lived praxis of factors such as trust, norms of behaviour, obligations, and reciprocity will vary according to context
  • I assert that social capital is accumulative
  • I assert that social capital is embedded in the structure of relations in a network, and not the possession of individuals
  • I assert that the accumulation of social capital is for the benefit of the collective
  • I assert that social capital has to be studied empirically
  • I assert the proliferation of a methodology that seeks to understand the quality of relations and put focus on the dynamics of everyday practice in an organization

* Bourdieu (1979) would say that how well you play the game depend on the volume of both economic, cultural, symbolic, and social capital available to you.

2 comments so far


Very interesting - did you have the opportunity to look into other definitons as well?

Here is a great resource on different definitions:
http://www.gnudung.com/literature/definition.html

All the best
Hans Henrik

Hans Henrik Heming December 8th, 2007 at 15:50

Thanks HH, I love those overview things. They make it so much easier for the rest of us. By the way I tend to lean towards Nahapiet’s and Ghoshal’s definition: “the sum of the actual and potential resources embedded within, available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an individual or social unit. Social capital thus comprises both the network and the assets that may be mobilized through that network’ (Nahapiet and Ghoshal 1998, p. 243)” as it encompasses my assertion 1 and 2. What about you?

jane December 17th, 2007 at 11:47

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