Social capital is productive, structural, and defined by its function.

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 (#complicates, via linked claim)

For example, in some schools where there exists a dense set of associations among some parents, these are the result of a small number of persons, ordinarily mothers who do not hold full-time jobs outside the home. Yet these mothers themselves experience only a subset of the benefits of this social capital surrounding the school. If one of them decides to abandon these activities-for example, to take a full-time job-this may be an entirely reasonable action from a personal point of view and even from the point of view of that household with its children. The benefits of the new activity may far outweigh the losses that arise from the decline in associations with other parents whose children are in the school. But the withdrawal of these activities constitutes a loss to all those other parents whose associations and contacts were dependent on them. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 208 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Social capital grafts social structure onto rational-choice theory. — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 7; Social capital is activity-specific and even harmful in some contexts.; Social capital consists of networks, not the trust they generate (+6 more)

Related

• Social capital facilitates actions that would otherwise be impossible. (similarity 0.91)
• Social capital constrains behavior even as it enables it, reducing innovativeness. (similarity 0.91)
• Social capital is activity-specific and even harmful in some contexts. (similarity 0.90)
• Social capital valuable for one activity can harm others. (similarity 0.87)
• Social capital accrues value to others beyond those who create it. (similarity 0.86)
• Social capital grafts social structure onto rational-choice theory. (similarity 0.85)
• Social capital makes rational action theory incorporate social structure. (similarity 0.83)
• Social networks themselves constitute capital with measurable productive value (similarity 0.82)
• Communal social capital shapes children’s development beyond family resources. (similarity 0.82)
• Social capital exists as obligations, information flows, and sanctioned norms (similarity 0.82)
• Effective community norms constrain behavior and suppress beneficial innovation (similarity 0.81)
• Social capital’s external effects are frequently antisocial and negative (similarity 0.79)
• Social capital acts as a shorthand for unpacking later (similarity 0.79)
• Community social capital substitutes for missing family social capital. (similarity 0.79)
• Parental human capital only benefits a child’s development when family relationships activate it. (similarity 0.79)

Broader Connections

• Social capital constrains behavior even as it enables it, reducing innovativeness. #complicates (0.80) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 111
• Social capital is activity-specific and even harmful in some contexts. #qualifies (0.75)
• Social capital accrues value to others beyond those who create it. #expands (0.75) — Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, 208
• Social capital consists of networks, not the trust they generate #expands (0.70)