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 11-15 of 49
... embedded resources in social networks will enhance the outcomes of actions (Lin 2001, Chapter 2). For one, it facilitates the flow of information. In the usual imperfect market situations, social ties located in certain strategic ...
... capital by individuals — how individuals access and use resources embedded in social networks to gain returns in instrumental actions (e.g., finding better jobs) or preserve gains in expressive actions. Thus, at this relational Nan Lin 7.
... embedded resources are expected to benefit both the collective and the individuals in the collective. At the group level, social capital represents some aggregation of valued resources (such as economic, political, cultural, or social ...
... embedded resources, or vice versa), but it should not be assumed that they are all alternative forms of social capital or are defined by one another (e.g., trust is capital). Another controversy, related to the focus on the collective ...
... embedded in social networks enhances obtaining better jobs). But the two concepts must be treated as separate entities with independent measurements (e.g., social capital is the investment in social relations and better jobs are ...
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 |