Social Capital

Bourdieu, 1992
Social capital is the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition.

Bourdieu, Pierre, and Wacquant, Loic J. D., An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology, Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1992:119

Putnam, 1995
Social capital refers to features of social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit.

Putnam, R.  ' Bowling Alone: the strange disappearance of civic America', Journal of Democracy, 6 1995:67



Fukuyama, 1999
Social capital can be defined simply as an instantiated set of informal values or norms shared among members of a group that permits them to cooperate with one another. If members of the group come to expect that others will behave reliably and honestly, then they will come to trust one another. Trust acts like a lubricant that makes any group or organization run more efficiently.

Fukuyama, F. The Great Disruption, New York: Simon and Schuster. 1999:16

Putnam, 2000
Connections among individuals – social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.

 Putnam, R. Bowling Alone: 'The Collapse and 'Revival of American Community, New York: Simon and Schuster. 2000:19


 * See Cultural Capital