Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Social Capital

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining

  • 296 Accesses

Synonyms

Capital; Goodwill; Human capital; Social networks; Trust

Glossary

Human Capital:

One’s stock of competencies, knowledge, skill, education

Political Economics:

The study of the relationship between politics and economics in society

Social Capital:

Productive resources residing in and resulting from social networks

Social Liability:

Obstructive resources residing in and resulting from social networks

Definition

By analogy with notions of physical capital and human capital, “social capital” refers to the features of social organization that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual or individual benefit. According to sociologist James Coleman (1990), “Like other forms of capital, social capital is productive, making possible the achievement of certain ends that would not be attainable in its absence. … In a farming community … where one farmer got his hay baled by another and where farm tools are extensively borrowed and lent, the social capital allows each farmer to...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution
Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 2,500.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 549.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Achilov D (2013) Social capital, Islam, and the Arab spring in the middle east. J Civ Soc 9(3):268–286

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Adler PS, Kwon S-W (2002) Social capital: prospects for a new concept. Acad Manag Rev 27:17–40

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brand MJ, Croonen EPM, Leenders RTAJ (2017, forthcoming) Entrepreneurial networking: a blessing or a curse? Differential effects for low, medium and high performing franchisees. Small Business Economics

    Google Scholar 

  • Bakker M, Leenders RTAJ, Gabbay SM, Kratzer J, van Engelen J (2006) Is trust really social capital? Knowledge sharing in product development projects. Learn Organ 13(6):594–605

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boggs C (2001) Social capital and political fantasy: Robert Putnam’s “bowling alone”. Theory Soc 30:281–297

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu P (1986) The forms of capital. In: Richardson JG (ed) Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. Greenwood Press, New York, pp 241–258

    Google Scholar 

  • Bourdieu P, Wacquant LJD (1992) An invitation to reflexive sociology. University of Chicago Press, Chicago

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt RS (1992) Structural holes: the social structure of competition. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Burt RS (1997) The contingent value of social capital. Adm Sci Q 42:339–365

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Clark JB (1885) The philosophy of wealth. Ginn, Boston

    Google Scholar 

  • Coleman JS (1988) Social capital in the creation of human capital. Am J Sociol 94:95–120

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Coleman JS (1990) Foundations of social theory. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Colombo MG, Franzoni C, Rossi-Lamastra C (2015) Internal social capital and the attraction of early contributions in crowdfunding. Entrep Theory Pract 39(1):75–100

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Edwards B (2013) Social capital and social movements. The Wiley-Blackwell encyclopedia of social and political movements. Wiley-Blackwell, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Ellwardt L, Wittek R, Wielers R (2012) Talking about the boss. Group Org Manag 37(4):521–549

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Farr J (2004) Social capital. Pol Theory 32:6–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gabbay SM (1997) Social capital in the creation of financial capital: the case of network marketing. Stipes Publishing, Champaign

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabbay SM, Leenders RTAJ (1999) CSC: the structure of advantage and disadvantage. In: Leenders RTAJ, Gabbay SM (eds) Corporate social capital and liability. Wolters-Kluwer Academic Publishers, New York, pp 1–14

    Google Scholar 

  • Gabbay SM, Leenders RTAJ (2001) Social capital of organizations: from social structure to the management of corporate social capital. In: Gabbay SM, Leenders RTAJ (eds) Social capital of organizations, research in the sociology of organizations. JAI Press, New York, pp 1–20

    Google Scholar 

  • Gargiulo M, Benassi M (1999) The dark side of social capital. In: Leenders RTAJ, Gabbay SM (eds) Corporate social capital and liability. Wolters-Kluwer Academic Publishers, Norwell, pp 298–322

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Gargiulo M, Sosa ME (2016) Common third parties and coordination disruptions in new product development organizations. J Prod Innov Manag 33(2):132–140

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gokpinar B, Hopp WJ, Iravani SMR (2010) The impact of misalignment of organizational structure and product architecture on quality in complex product development. Manag Sci 56(3):468–484

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Granovetter MS (1973) The strength of weak ties. Am J Sociol 78:1360–1380

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grootaert C, Van Bastelaer T (2001) Understanding and measuring social capital: a synthesis of findings and recommendations from the social capital initiative. In: World bank social capital initiative working paper 24. http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTSOCIALDEVELOPMENT/EXTSOCIAL-CAPITAL/0,contentMDK:20194767~menuPK:418848~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:401015,00.html

  • Halpern D (2005) Social capital. Polity Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Helliwell JF, Putnam RD (2004) The social context of well-being. Philos Trans-R Soc London Series B Biol Sci 359(1449):1435–1446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Helliwell JF, Huang H, Wang S (2014) Social capital and well-being in times of crisis. J Happiness Stud 15(1):145–162

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kawachi I, Subramanian SV, Kim D (2008) Social capital and health. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Knoke D (1999) Organizational networks and corporate social capital. In: Leenders RTAJ, Gabbay SM (eds) Corporate social capital and liability. Wolters-Kluwer Academic, Norwell, pp 17–42

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Kwon S-W, Adler PS (2014) Social capital: maturation of a field of research. Acad Manag Rev 39(4):412–422

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leenders RTAJ, Gabbay SM (1999) Corporate social capital and liability. Kluwer Academic, Boston

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Leenders RTAJ, Contractor NS, DeChurch LA (2016) Once upon a time: understanding team processes as relational event networks. Organ Psychol Rev 6(1):92–115

    Google Scholar 

  • Lemann N (1996) Kicking in groups. Atl Mon (10727825) 277:22–26

    Google Scholar 

  • Leung A, Kier C, Fung T, Fung L, Sproule R (2011) Searching for happiness: the importance of social capital. J Happiness Stud 12(3):443–462

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lin N (2001) Social capital: a theory of social structure and action. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Liu D, Ainsworth SE, Baumeister RF (2016) A meta-analysis of social networking online and social capital. Rev Gen Psychol 20(4):369–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Marshall A (1890) Principles of economics. Macmillan, London

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  • Marx K (1867) Das Kapital: Kritik der Politischen Ökonomie. Marx-Engels Werke, Dietz Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • McLean SL, Schultz DA, Steger M (2002) Social capital: critical perspectives on community and “bowling alone”. New York University Press, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Merton RK (1968) Social theory and social structure. Free Press/Simon and Schuster, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Nummela O, Sulander T, Karisto A, Uutela A (2009) Self-rated health and social capital among aging people across the urban–rural dimension. Int J Behav Med 16(2):189–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nyqvist F, Forsman AK, Giuntoli G, Cattan M (2013) Social capital as a resource for mental well-being in older people: A systematic review. Aging & Mental Health 17(4):394–410

    Google Scholar 

  • Perliger A, Pedahzur A (2011) Social network analysis in the study of terrorism and political violence. Polit Sci Polit 44(1):45–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes A (1998) Social capital: its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annu Rev Sociol 24:1–24

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Portes A (2014) Downsides of social capital. Proc Natl Acad Sci 111(52):18407–18408

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam RD (1995) Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. J Democr 6:65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Putnam RD (2000) Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community. Simon & Schuster, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Raymond DJ (2015) Combating Daesh: a socially unconventional strategy. Naval Postgraduate School, Monterey

    Google Scholar 

  • Rodríguez-Pose A, von Berlepsch V (2014) Social capital and individual happiness in Europe. J Happiness Stud 15(2):357–386

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schuller T, Baron S, Field J (2001) Social capital: a review and critique. In: Baron S, Field J, Schuller T (eds) Social capital: critical perspectives. Oxford University Press, Oxford, pp 1–38

    Google Scholar 

  • Sidgwick H (1883) The principles of political economy. Macmillan, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Sosa ME, Gargiulo M, Rowles C (2015) Can informal communication networks disrupt coordination in new product development projects? Organ Sci 26(4):1059–1078

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Wu E, Carleton R, Davies G (2014) Discovering bin-Laden’s replacement in al-Qaeda, using social network analysis: a methodological investigation. Perspect Terrorism 8(1):57–73

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Organization Studies, Tilburg School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

    Roger Leenders

Authors
  1. Roger Leenders
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Roger Leenders .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Reda Alhajj

  2. Department of Computer Science, University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada

    Jon Rokne

Section Editor information

  1. telecom-paristech, Paris, France

    Talel Abdessalem

  2. Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Université du Québec en Outaouais (UQO), Gatineau, QC, Canada

    Rokia Missaoui

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2018 Springer Science+Business Media LLC, part of Springer Nature

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Leenders, R. (2018). Social Capital. In: Alhajj, R., Rokne, J. (eds) Encyclopedia of Social Network Analysis and Mining. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4939-7131-2_92

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation