Social Capital: Theory and ResearchNan Lin, Karen S. Cook, Ronald S. Burt Leading scholars in the field of social networks from diverse disciplines present the first systematic and comprehensive collection of current theories and empirical research on the informal connections that individuals have for support, help, and information from other people. Expanding on concepts originally formulated by Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman, this seminal work will find an essential place with educators and students in the fields of social networks, rational choice theory, institutions, and the socioeconomics of poverty, labor markets, social psychology, and race. The volume is divided into three parts. The first segment clarifies social capital as a concept and explores its theoretical and operational bases. Additional segments provide brief accounts that place the development of social capital in the context of the family of capital theorists, and identify some critical but controversial perspectives and statements regarding social capital in the literature. The editors then make the argument for the network perspective, why and how such a perspective can clarify controversies and advance our understanding of a whole range of instrumental and expressive outcomes. Social Capital further provides a forum for ongoing research programs initiated by social scientists working at the crossroads of formal theory and new methods. These scholars and programs share certain understandings and approaches in their analyses of social capital. They argue that social networks are the foundation of social capital. Social networks simultaneously capture individuals and social structure, thus serving as a vital conceptual link between actions and structural constraints, between micro- and macro-level analyses, and between relational and collective dynamic processes. They are further cognizant of the dual significance of the "structural" features of the social networks and the "resources" embedded in the networks as defining elements of social capital. Nan Lin is professor of sociology, Duke University. Karen Cook is Ray Lyman Wilber Professor of Sociology, Department of Sociology, Stanford University. Ronald S. Burt is Hobart W. Williams Professor of Sociology and Strategy, University of Chicago Graduate School of Business. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 92
... Social Capital: Networks and Embedded Resources 1 Building a Network Theory of Social Capital Nan Lin 3 2 Structural Holes versus Network Closure as Social Capital Ronald S. Burt 31 3 The Position Generator: Measurement Techniques for ...
... Social capital as both concept and theory has drawn much intellectual interest and research in the past two decades. The attraction of the notion is perhaps in part due to the common understanding that as a social element, it may ...
... social capital held in October- November 1998 at Duke University. We invited speakers who in our judgment were conducting significant work on social capital, and over 150 scholars and professionals participated in the three-day event ...
... capital: an open network or a research focus on linkages with ties outside a social group, or a closed network ... capital. Lin, Fu, and Hsung, in the next chapter, take on the methodological issue of designing an appropriate ...
... social capital (evoking interpersonal ties) represents a purposive investment for those in a position to take advantage of incentives and results in monetary returns. Marsden examines the utility of social capital from the employer's ...
Contents
| 3 | |
Structural Holes versus Network Closure as Social Capital | 31 |
Measurement Techniques | 57 |
How Much Is That Network Worth? Social Capital | 85 |
Interpersonal Ties Social Capital and Employer | 105 |
The Value of Social | 127 |
The Influence of Social Capital | 159 |
Social Networks and Social Capital | 209 |
Getting Support | 233 |
Index | 325 |