The Importance of Social Capital: "The Strength of Weak Ties"

In Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, Robert Putnam discusses the notion of "Social Capital," which he defines as "connections among individuals--social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them...By analogy with notions of physical capital and human capital--tools and training that enhance individual productivity--the core idea of the social capital theory is that social networks have value. Just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a college education (human capital) can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so too social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups."

Putnam argues that "social capital turns out to have forceful, even quantifiable effects on many different aspects of our lives...(there is) hard evidence that our schools and neighborhoods don't work so well when community bonds slacken, that our economy, our democracy, and even our health and happiness depend on adequate stocks of social capital."

Unfortunately, West Virginia is ranked 42nd on Putnam's "Social Capital Index," meaning that only 7 states have lower amounts of social capital. This is a problem, because, as Putnam says, "precisely because poor people (by definition) have little economic capital and face formidable obstacles in acquiring human capital (that is, education), social capital is disproportionately important to their welfare." Less or lessening amounts of social capital negatively impacts West Virginia to a much greater extent due to the lack of the counter-balance of other forms of capital.

Putnam says that "a growing body of research suggests that where trust and social networks flourish, individuals, firms, neighborhoods, and even nations prosper."

Some examples:

• "Individuals who grow up in socially isolated rural and inner-city areas are held back, not merely because they tend to be financially and educationally deprived, but also because they are relatively poor in social ties that can provide a "hand-up."
  
• Evidence shows that connections "influence who gets a job, a bonus, a promotion, and other employment benefits. Social networks provide people with advice, job leads, strategic information, and letters of recommendation" and also that "casual acquaintances can be more important assets than close friends and family for individuals in search of employment." This is because a person's "closest friends and kin--"strong ties"--are likely to know the same people and hear of the same opportunities. More distant acquaintances--"weak ties"--are more likely to link that person to unexpected opportunities, and thus those weak ties are actually more valuable."

Job Squad has seen first-hand the value of connections--it seems that in every good outcome, some community connection played a role: business acquaintances of an individual's family, a prior mentor or friend, a community acquaintance, the connections of our organization, or the Active Employer Council, a group put together by Job Squad, and first pioneered by Griffin-Hammis Associates in the 1990's, to purposefully leverage the business, community, and social connections of the Council members. We have also seen, as Putnam describes above and in Bowling Alone, that individuals at the economic margins of their communities tend to participate less in their communities and have fewer social networks to utilize when seeking employment.

Putnam sums up his chapter on economic prosperity in Bowling Alone by saying that, "For the moment, the links between social networks and economic success at the individual level are understood. You can be reasonably confident that you will benefit if you acquire a richer social network...(the data) encourage the view that social capital of the right sort boosts economic efficiency, so that if our networks of reciprocity deepen, we all benefit, and if they atrophy, we all pay dearly."

The message to us all: Join now. Join a lot. Participate in community activities with others and help others participate in community activities. Or put another way, as Ernesto Sirolli says in Ripples From the Zambezi, "The person who is most capable of enlisting the support of others is the most likely to succeed."