WHY DOES SOCIAL CAPITAL MATTER?

Presentation for the Strategic Futures Group

David Halpern, PMFSU

26TH March 2002

• Three common responses

• Evidence on effects

• Final thoughts
 Common responses
• Hear it all before?
Figure 1.1 References to social capital in the titles or abstracts of academic articles, 1985-2000. [Combined – many continuities
search conducted of Econlit; Psychlit; Crimlit; and Medline. Figure for the year 2000 projected from part-year
total. Raw figure for 1991 adjusted from 18 to 8, due to 11 simultaneous ‘hits’ from 11 articles in single issue of
Early Child Development and Care all being entered under keyword.]
– new evidence
180
Projected
– ecological effects: MLM, clustering
160 figure

140
• Theoretically confused?
– a lot of chaff
A r t i c l e s o n s o c ia l c a p i t a l

120
'Bowling
100
alone' – fungability
article
80
Putnam – framework
60 Coleman book
40
article • Can’t do anything about it anyway?
20 – Deep roots
0
1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 – but changing over time
Year
– successful interventions
 Fig. 1…

Honours
& law Diplomacy, war Int. law
Macro level

Patriotism Treaties Human rights,

& trust aid

Isolation Eg trading UN etc

links

Exclusion Group conflict

Enforcement

Meso level
Out-group Mutual
Identification understanding respect

• A framework Closure &

density of
network
Links
between
Links
between
strata
communities

Withdrawal Shame and Shaming & formal

• An example: the Individual

level
of affection

Love and
reputation

Reciprocity
sanction

Generosity

traditional community care etc

Parents,
siblings Acquaintances Links to
etc friends, etc. powerful
 Economic effects

• Indiv: Employment and earnings;

• Meso: NY diamond market, firms;
• Macro: national & regional differences (UK);

• Path: transaction costs & information.

 Health

• Indiv: social support - longitudinal studies

• Meso: Roseto, Finland
• Macro: US states, but nations?

• Path: stress reaction and support

 Crime

• Indiv: personal histories, prison

• Meso: neighbourhood and peer effects
• Macro: US states, national differences

• Path: ‘social control’ and respect

 Education

• Indiv: family influences

• Meso: school & other ecological effects
• Macro: US states, OECD literacy

• Path: aspiration
 Government

• Indiv: housing self-management

• Meso: Italian case +
• Macro: national -> supra-national

• Path: virtuous citizens

 …and finally

• Do all good things go together?

• Trends

• Multiple aspects - the vitamin model

• Downsides

• Tensions - which objective? Still choices.