Social capital grows from participation, not prior endowment alone.

Evidence

At first glance, it seems that the dilemma that is yet to be solved is whether social capital (which in turn helps solve collective action problems) is produced through participation in polycentric arrangements, or whether it is a prerequisite for the success of such arrangements. However, there is a potential explanation that offers us a way of not entering this dilemma. Ostrom mentions that “people who are facing extant coordination and collective-action problems have to have sufficient autonomy and incentives to build their own ways of working more effectively together” (E. Ostrom 1999, 202). From this, it seems that social capital is pursuant to the opportunities for participation (included, presumably, those emerging in a polycentric system). However, she also specifies that “social capital may, in fact, improve with use so long as participants continue to keep prior commitments and maintain reciprocity and trust” (E. — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic, 49

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to Elinor Ostrom’s broader common-pool-resource and collective action scholarship on how cooperation is built rather than assumed. — connects to: Civic engagement traditions precede and enable socioeconomic modernization, not the reverse. — Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining…, 14; Government policy can deliberately foster social-capital formation. — Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone: America’s Declining…, 79; Social capital’s self-reinforcing strength does not explain how it emerges originally. — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic: Social…, 38 (+4 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Adelin-Costin Dumitru, Forging the Resistive Republic: Social…, 49

Related

• Social capital’s self-reinforcing strength does not explain how it emerges originally. (similarity 0.88)
• Trust emerges as a result of cooperation rather than an element of social capital. (similarity 0.83)
• Social trust is an outcome and byproduct of social capital (similarity 0.82)
• Social capital works without assuming individuals share common-oriented goals. (similarity 0.81)
• Social capital enables citizens to contest policies endangering non-domination. (similarity 0.80)
• Social trust and civic engagement co-vary across societies as one underlying factor. (similarity 0.79)
• Institutions for collective action emerge from community incentives, reciprocity, and trust that curb free-riding. (similarity 0.79)
• Government policy can deliberately foster social-capital formation. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Trust emerges as a result of cooperation rather than an element of social capital. #corroborates (0.80) — Russell Hardin, Trust and Trustworthiness, 409