Question

Exploring the foundations of social capital research: pioneers (Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam), critique and application to South Africa.
Considering the above statement analyse

Define social capital?

Who are the pioneers of social l capital?

Using examples apply social capital theory

This topic is initiated from Entrepreneurship subject on entrepreneur in a social context

Answer 1

Social capital can be referred to as an interpersonal relationship between people who work together to achieve certain goals in a particular organization or society. Social capital helps the organization or the society to work effectively.

2. The pioneers of social capital are:

- L.J. Hanifan

- Pierre Bourdieu

- James Coleman

3. There are different levels of social capital: Individual, Group, and Societal level of social capital. Now let me explain the examples of each social capital level.

Individual level: The capital at the individual level can be in the form of physical, human, and social. And the social capital at an individual level is only about making a social relationship with each other.

Example: Suppose you are in your school, and while giving an exam, you lost your pen, so you decided to borrow an extra pen from your friend or the student who is sitting next to you. This helped in building a social relation between the two of you.

Similarly, when you borrow some sugar, or flour from your neighbors in case of an emergency or your neighbor help you in any way. This social relationship between you and your neighbor is the social capital for you and your neighbor at the individual level

Group Level: The group level is also similar to the individual level since many individuals when come to together or interact with each other then they form a group. So, if a group is doing something together to make something or sharing some knowledge with each other then that can be treated as a social capital at the group level. Another example of social capital at group level can be a management team who are discussing together to create new rules, policies or guidelines for their employees.

Societal Level: At the societal level the social capital can be trust, civic norms, and voluntary activity. Examples of this can be an institution or hospitals created to provide safety and meet the basic need of human beings. All the government and nongovernment organizations, like a firefighter, police, navy, army, airforce, courts, school, universities, and corporations are all social capital at the societal level.