Social Capital

SOCIAL CAPITAL- A concept introduced P. Bourdieu Article "Forms of capital" (1983) to describe social networks that can serve resource benefits.

Sources of this idea can be found in Tocqueville, Simmel , Durkheim And Weber . For Bourdieu, social capital is a product of social production, material and thus the class practices, means of achieving group solidarity. In this understanding, KS is not only and not so much the cause of economic benefits as a manifestation of socio-economic conditions and circumstances, it is a group resource and can not be measured at the individual level. Linkages between economic development of society and the size of the aggregate social capital is mediated by political systems, religious traditions, the dominant values. The followers of Bourdieu's use mainly qualitative, ethnographic and historical methods for assessing social capital of communities.

A different concept was proposed by James Coleman in his article "Social capital in the production of human capital" (1988). Being engaged in the processes of diffusion and influence, sociological analysis of education and collective action, Coleman based his understanding of social capital in the empirical tradition in American sociology (anthropological studies of social networks --- L. Warner, rural and urban sociology), and human capital theory ( Human capital) G. Becker. Social capital is a public good, but there is a free and rational individual to achieve their own benefit. This process involves a social contract, a set of social norms, social exchanges and, consequently, some basic level of trust. Coleman's followers social capital as an attribute of the individual, giving him a real advantage in achieving life goals, career, protect property, access to information. Social capital is seen as a liberal society. The economic importance of social capital is that it reduces the costs of coordinating joint activities, replacing the contracts, the formal rules and bureaucratic procedures, trust relationships, lessons by professional standards, ethics, communication - those informal rules, which are transferred to culture and education. Like other forms of capital, social capital paid dividends only if it is active use: exchange, interiorization and exteriorization. At the individual level, the benefits obtained social capital include the level of health, education and training of children, the possibility of finding employment, life satisfaction, release time (use of services), cognitive simplicity of the world (no need to solve all the problems), the broader social identification, at the organizational - Reduced staff turnover, staff continuity, informal development opportunities, increase the collective knowledge, the continuity of organizational behavior, at the societal level - facilitating social control and the transfer of social experience, solidarity, reduction of the bureaucratic machine.

Considerable attention of researchers in this subject has been drawn by R. Putnam (eg, "bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community", 2000), which used three-factor model of social capital: norms of reciprocity, trust and social networks. The first two factors are essentially socio-psychological attributes of the individual. Therefore, Putnam measure social capital using individual indicators, such as intensity and strength of contacts, membership in public associations, electoral activity, satisfaction with relationship, adherence to reciprocity, a sense of security, trust in neighbors and social institutions. Group or territorial rates obtained through the aggregation of individual. In the analysis of economic development of several regions of the world Putnam showed that the change in the quality of social relations preceded economic development. This result contradicts the data by sociologists Bourdieu and met with skepticism. In particular, Putnam does not explain the lack of a tautology, underestimate the role of tradition and religious prescriptions, do not take into account the prevailing patterns of relationships, are essentially zapadnotsentristskimi and built on the ideas of the Protestant work ethic . In studies of the dynamics of social capital in the U.S. Putnam notes a significant decline in public activity in 1970-1980-e in the electoral and political behavior, participation in volunteer programs, non-governmental organizations, participation in voluntary associations, reading newspapers, visiting relatives and friends, a collective pastime. The analysis of virtually ignores the effect of generation (children of the Great Depression, the postwar demographic bulge and Children 1980), changing conditions and lifestyle (urbanization, geographical mobility), the development of electronic means of communication and new forms of leisure. The rapid activity of non-governmental organizations in the past decade may reflect the excessive politicization of private life. Do not have an explanation other empirical facts, for example., High rates of measured social capital in the black ghetto.

Despite the criticism, an individualistic approach to measuring social capital is dominant in the research program of the World Bank on sustainable development of countries and regions, and most of the economic and sociological models. Individual indicators of social capital are included in the questionnaires of the World poll of values. These are the questions: How do you know your neighbors by name? Whether the neighbors look out for your apartment during your holiday? How often encounter in the shops with your friends? How many of you know? Often I talk on the phone with relatives? Invite you to my colleagues back home? How many times have you turned for advice to other people over the past three months? Do you think your neighborhoods safer? Do you think that the police / militia in your city can be trusted? Do you know who is a member of a local representative body of your county? How much are you tolerant of people, behaviors and habits are very different from yours? The legitimacy of the averaging of such indicators is problematic because it loses the effect of any aggregation of sociality, connectivity.

One of the indicators of social capital is membership in groups, the presence of contacts. However, the quality and intensity of these contacts are determined by factors external to the theory of social capital so that the usefulness of weak ties Increases in inverse proportion to market development. The presence of structural holes In social ties significantly in an environment with high competition. Artificial maintenance of structural holes reduces the level of mutual trust and thereby reduces the relationship between social capital measured by the number of contacts in social networks, the number of groups and induced social capital is not trivial and is mediated by many variables. Thus, mapped L. Warner 22 000 groups in the town of "Yankee City" with a population of 17 000 is impossible to interpret without additional information.

Empirical studies in Eastern European countries often use archaic or ambiguous indicators of affiliation (membership in the Communist Party), adapted to the culture of modernism and the scale of the Protestant work ethic, ambiguous measure of social capital for specific sectors of social production. Not accounted for generations and the effect of economic conditions (transport communications, telephone, the availability of the private service sector).

Although social capital is created and maintained in interpersonal and intergroup relations, it should not be confused with cohesion and solidarity. The latter can be created as a positive attitude towards external social environment where members of other groups attributed positive qualities (large radius of trust, by F. Fukuyama), and negative when outside groups are perceived hostility (large radius of distrust). In the second case of public morality justify immoral behavior towards others for the sake of his (double morality), and the total social capital decreases. In particular, the actions of political organizations are often aimed at achieving the desired objectives (solidarity) due to the escalation of hostility towards members of other communities. Particular attention should be given serious social abnormalities - increased social inequality and practices of social exclusion for certain distributions of social capital.

In general, social capital is an attractive and creative as an explanatory concept, but the corresponding theory of heterogeneous and internally contradictory, its definition is twofold, prediction and explanation tautological, aggregate indices of social capital is not enough are valid, constructs poorly measurable, and recommendations for social leaders and politicians indistinct.