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more studying in the field of engineering acquires enough increased productivity to compensate
for all that time of lost production, compensation, and use of educational resources including
school buildings, equipment and teachers. Social capital refers to the investment in relationships,
active connections and/or social networks that result in increased productivity. While physical
capital refers to physical objects and human capital to properties of individuals, social capital
involves mechanisms through which knowledge can be transferred from one person to another
(Putnam, 2000). It provides links and relationships which enhance and augment the productivity
of human capital. Social capital is a quality created between individuals while human capital is a
quality of individuals (Burt, 2000).
Because social capital involves intangibles, defining it has generated a considerable
literature (for example see Robison, Siles & Schmid, 2004). Durston defines social capital as
the substance of certain social relations in which attitudes of trust combine with behaviors of
reciprocity and cooperation such that those who possess this capital have access to greater
benefits than they could enjoy in its absence p. 133 (2004). The foundation of social capital is
trust. Its building blocks are honesty, mutual understanding, shared values, tolerance,
cooperation and collaboration. Hargreaves (2001) describes this set of characteristics as the
cultural component of social capital. The structural component is composed of the networks
between people.
High levels of trust tend to generate strong networks and collaboration between people
within a network, which in turn requires honesty. Trust breeds trust. It is reinforcing and its
development is a cumulative process (Cohen and Prusak, 2001). Creating and expanding social
capital requires investment, just as is true of other forms of capital. At the same time a betrayal
of trust can very quickly undermine and/or destroy social capital. If social capital is low, the
extent to which human capital can be mobilized is limited (Hargreaves, 2001).
The concept has been applied in many different fields arguing that relationships built on
trust and reciprocity facilitate productivity and efficiency. Robert Putnam, in his book Bowling
Alone, applies the concept to the functioning of communities and further argues that it is
declining over time in the U.S. (Putnam, 2000). Social capital may be bonding, meaning an
inward looking community that reinforces exclusive identities and homogeneous groups. Or it
may be bridging when the community is outward-looking, attempting to include people from
different social and racial classes (embraces diversity). Bonding social capital mobilizes
solidarity within a group, described by Smith (2001) as a kind of sociological glue. Bridging
social capital networks provides linkages to external assets and information diffusion. Social
capital facilitates the flow of information, as well as empathy and tolerance between people.
Putnam cites evidence that people who are rich in social capital cope better with traumas and
fight illness more effectively.
Don Cohen and Laurence Prusak (2001) apply social capital to business, arguing that
networks based on trust and reciprocity greatly facilitate efficiency in business (which can also
include schools). They claim that: (1) trust relationships and shared goals result in more
effective knowledge sharing; (2) high levels of trust and cooperation lower transactions costs; (3)
shared understanding leads to a greater coherence of action; and (4) a more compatible,
supportive work environment leads to lower turnover rates and more stability within the
organization (e.g. the school). The edited volume by Eric Lesser, Knowledge and Social Capital
(2000), contains a series of essays that apply the concept to organizations, the success of Siliccon
Valley, the law profession and upper level management, as well as to education.
Childs
Learning
Physical
School
Characteristics
Classmate
Characteristics
Family
Characteristics
SES
Siblings
Teacher
Characteristics
Parents
Education
Education,
Training
Experience
Teaching
Style
Figure 1
Impact of Physical, Human and Social Capital on the Childs Learning
Responding to the importance Coleman placed on the level of social capital between
parents and the school community (the double arrow between parents and teacher in Figure 1),
several empirical studies have tested the effectiveness of level of parental participation in the
school on their childs learning. For example, Ho and Willms (1996) and Carbonaro (1998) both
use number of contacts between the school and parents during a year as one measure of this
connection, along with parent participation levels as volunteers and Parent-Teacher Organization
(PTO) participants. Others have emphasized networks among parents, using such measures as
the number of parents of the childs friends known to the parents (Muller, 1995 and Horvat,
Weininger and Largeau, 2003, among others). The Horvat, et al. ethnographic study of U.S. high
school students indicates that social class has a big effect on the types of social networks that
develop. Middle class networks tend to be much more connected to the school and school
activities, giving them more social capital that can be directed toward solving problems at school
and enhancing learning for their children. Furthermore, they found that middle class social
networks have more access to professionals to aid in problem solving. Social networks among
working class and poor families tend to be formed around kinship ties with very little help in
matters pertaining to schooling.
Other studies have focused on the effects of developing social capital within the
classroom through the use of teaching techniques that involve active participation on the part of
students and tap into the possibilities of students learning from each other. In U.S. classrooms
use of cooperative learning techniques such as Kagan Structures (Kagan, 1989-90) and the
Tribes Learning Community (Gibbs, 1995) have been shown to affect learning achievement.
According to Dotson (2002), of 67 studies on cooperative learning, 61 percent showed
significant gains in learning achievement. Instilling concepts of respect, trustworthiness,
honesty and empathy into the group relationships along with conflict resolution and problem
solving skills, learning to say thank you and give complements as well as to express misgivings
and anger are all part of the development of social capital between children in the classroom.
Another example of the importance of social capital in the classroom is an evaluation of
special programs developed to enhance learning by Stringfield, Millsap and Herman (1998).
They conclude that collectively these studies indicate that the quality of the implementation of
the programs is the determining factor for program success. Implementation involves intangible
actions and interactions, including the creation of trust, development of networks, high levels of
cooperation and reciprocity, all forms of social capital.
(eds.). Social Capital and Poverty Reduction in Latin America and the Caribbean. Santiago,
Chile: CELAC.
Gibbs, Jeanne (1995) Tribes, A New Way of Learning and Being Together, Sausalito, CA:
CenterSource Systems.
Gibeon, Barbara H. (2002) Structuring Schools for Teacher Collaboration, Principal
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Hanifan, Lydia Judson (1916) The Rural School Community Center, Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science, 67: 130-138.
Hargreaves, David H. (2001) A Capital Theory of School Effectiveness and Improvement,
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Horvat, Erin McNamara, Elliott B. Weininger and Annette Largeau (2003) From Social Ties to
Social Capital: Class Differences in the Relations between Schools and Parent Networks,
American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 40, no. 2, Summer, 319-351.
Kagan, Spencer (1989-90) The Structural Approach to Cooperative Learning, Educational
Leadership, vol. 47, 12-15.
Lesser, Eric L., ed. (2000) Knowledge and Social Capital, Boston, MA: Butterworth &
Heinmann.
Muller, Clandra (1995). Parental Ties to the School and Community and Mathematics
Achievement. In Peter W. Cookson and Barbara Schneider (Eds), Transforming Schools. New
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reduction: Towards a mature paradigm. In Ral Atria and Marcelo Siles, (eds.). Social Capital
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to Improve Educational Processes and Student Outcomes, in International Handbook of
Eductional Change, ed. A Hargreaves, et. al., Great Britain: Kluwer Academic Publishers, 13141338.
Valenzuela, Angela (1999) Subractive Schooling: U.S.-Mexican Youth and the Politics of
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