Social capital constrains behavior even as it enables it, reducing innovativeness.

Evidence

As all these examples suggest, effective norms can constitute a powerful form of social capital. This social capital, however, like the forms described earlier, not only facilitates certain actions; it constrains others. A community with strong and effective norms about young persons’ behavior can keep them from “having a good time.” Norms that make it possible to walk alone at night also constrain the activities of criminals (and in some cases of noncriminals as well). Even prescriptive norms that reward certain actions, like the norm in a community that says that a boy who is a good athlete should go out for football, are in effect directing energy away from other activities. Effective norms in an area can reduce innovativeness in an area, not only deviant actions that harm others but also deviant actions that can benefit everyone. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 111

Categorization

• ADDENDUM: Connects directly to ‘On Sacrifice’ thinking about how strong community norms stabilize groups but at a cost — norms that unite also bind, a parallel to how sacrifice cements social order.
• XREF: connects to: Social capital is productive, structural, and defined by its function.; Social capital is activity-specific and even harmful in some contexts.; Creativity is an inborn birthright that social imperatives suppress — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 420 (+9 more)

Related

• Social capital is activity-specific and even harmful in some contexts. (similarity 0.91)
• Social capital is productive, structural, and defined by its function. (similarity 0.91)
• Effective community norms constrain behavior and suppress beneficial innovation (similarity 0.89)
• Social capital facilitates actions that would otherwise be impossible. (similarity 0.87)
• Social capital valuable for one activity can harm others. (similarity 0.86)
• Social capital’s external effects are frequently antisocial and negative (similarity 0.80)

Broader Connections

• Creativity is an inborn birthright that social imperatives suppress #expands (0.82) — Pauline Oliveros, Deep Listening, 420
• Larger social circles encourage individual freedom; smaller ones restrict it #expands (0.75) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 642