Top

Social Indicators Research

Published in:

08-10-2022 | Original Research

The Measurement of Social Capital in America: A Reassessment

Authors: Călin Vâlsan, Zizi Goschin, Elena Druică

Published in: Social Indicators Research | Issue 1/2023

Activate our intelligent search to find suitable subject content or patents.

search-config

AI-assisted search

Off

Abstract

One of the more successful approaches to the measurement of social capital across US counties relies on a two-step algorithm procedure. In the first step, ten variables accounting for the per capita number of various types of voluntary organizations are averaged to generate an Aggregate Index. In the second step, the Aggregate Index and three other factors are used to extract an overall Social Capital Index. Here, we propose several methodological improvements to this already solid methodology. We replace the Aggregate Index calculated as a simple average with a measure generated with principal component analysis, and subsequently with a formative partial least squares dimension-reduction procedure. We explore variations of these procedures, according to the rent-seeking nature of the organizations that make up our groupings. We illustrate our methodology by using US county data. We find that, even when holding the normative concept and the data constant we generate alternative metrics with different characteristics. This result has far-reaching implications for both the theory of social capital and the public policies that rely on the evidence surrounding social capital. There appears to be an inherent arbitrariness to measuring complex social phenomena using a reductionist analytical framework. At the same time, there are limits to evidence-based policy interventions. These limits need to be mitigated with a balanced approach relying on both analytical tools and qualitative evaluations.

previous article Is Growth Pro-poor Among the States of India? A Poverty Decomposition Exercise During the 2000s

next article Income and Health in Predicting Older Adults’ Social Capabilities in China: The Mediating Role of Social Engagement

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 102.000 Bücher
über 537 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Automobil + Motoren
Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Elektrotechnik + Elektronik
Energie + Nachhaltigkeit
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Maschinenbau + Werkstoffe
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Online-Abonnement

Mit Springer Professional "Wirtschaft" erhalten Sie Zugriff auf:

über 67.000 Bücher
über 340 Zeitschriften

aus folgenden Fachgebieten:

Bauwesen + Immobilien
Business IT + Informatik
Finance + Banking
Management + Führung
Marketing + Vertrieb
Versicherung + Risiko

Jetzt Wissensvorsprung sichern!

inform now

Available only for authorised users

More information is available at https://aese.psu.edu/nercrd/community/social-capital-resources, Accessed on 10 September 2022.

Data is available at https://aese.psu.edu/nercrd/community/social-capital-resources/social-capital-variables-for-2014, Accessed on 10 September 2022.

Alfano, V. (2022). Does social capital enforce social distancing? The role of bridging and bonding social capital in the evolution of the pandemic. Economia Politica. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40888-021-00255-3CrossRef

Alguezaui, S., & Filieri, R. (2010). Investigating the role of social capital in innovation: Sparse versus dense network. Journal of Knowledge Management, 14(6), 891–909. https://doi.org/10.1108/13673271011084925CrossRef

Anselin, L. (1995). Local indicators of spatial association—LISA. Geographical Analysis, 27(2), 93–115. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-4632.1995.tb00338.xCrossRef

Anselin, L., & Rey, S. (1991). Properties of tests for spatial dependence in linear regression models. Geographical Analysis, 23(2), 112–131. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-4632.1991.tb00228.xCrossRef

Au, A. (2019). The embodiment of social capital at individual and communal levels: Action, rewards, inequality, and new directions. International Journal of Sociology and Social Policy, 39(9–10), 812–830. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSSP-04-2019-0078CrossRef

Axhausen, K. (2006). Social networks and travel: Some hypotheses [Application/pdf]. In S. In Poppelreuter & K. Donaghy (Eds.), Social dimensions of sustainable transport: Transatlantic perspectives (pp. 90–108). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.3929/ETHZ-A-004663201CrossRef

Bhandari, H., & Yasunobu, K. (2009). What is social capital? A comprehensive review of the concept. Asian Journal of Social Science, 37(3), 480–510. https://doi.org/10.1163/156853109X436847CrossRef

Bjørnskov, C. (2006). The multiple facets of social capital. European Journal of Political Economy, 22(1), 22–40.CrossRef

Bourdieu, P. (1973). Cultural reproduction and social reproduction. In J. Karabel & A. H. Halsey (Eds.), Knowledge, education, and cultural change. Routledge.

Burt, R. S. (2000). The network structure of social capital. Research in Organizational Behavior, 22, 345–423. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0191-3085(00)22009-1CrossRef

Chen, Y. (2016). Reference-related component analysis: A new method inheriting the advantages of PLS and PCA for separating interesting information and reducing data dimension. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 156, 196–202. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemolab.2016.06.004CrossRef

Claridge, T. (2018, January 28). Explanation of different levels of social capital. Institute for Social Capital. https://www.socialcapitalresearch.com/levels-of-social-capital/

Coates, D., & Heckelman, J. C. (2003). Interest groups and investment: A further test of the olson hypothesis. Public Choice, 117(3–4), 333–340.CrossRef

Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, S95–S120.CrossRef

Currie, G., & Stanley, J. (2008). Investigating links between social capital and public transport. Transport Reviews, 28(4), 529–547. https://doi.org/10.1080/01441640701817197CrossRef

Dasgupta, P. (1999). Economic progress and the idea of social capital. In P. Dasgupta & I. Serageldin (Eds.), Social capital: A multifaceted perspective (pp. 325–424). World Bank.CrossRef

Dasgupta, P. (2005). Economics of social capital*. Economic Record, 81(s1), S2–S21. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2005.00245.xCrossRef

Deville, P., Song, C., Eagle, N., Blondel, V. D., Barabási, A.-L., & Wang, D. (2016). Scaling identity connects human mobility and social interactions. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 113(26), 7047–7052. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1525443113CrossRef

Diemer, A., & Regan, T. (2022). No inventor is an island: Social connectedness and the geography of knowledge flows in the US. Research Policy, 51(2), 104416. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.respol.2021.104416CrossRef

Engbers, T. A., Thompson, M. F., & Slaper, T. F. (2017). Theory and measurement in social capital research. Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, 132(2), 537–558.CrossRef

Erickson, B. (1996). Culture, class, and connections. American Journal of Sociology, 102(1), 217–251.CrossRef

Erickson, B. (2009). The context challenge: Generalizing social capital processes across two different settings. In R.-M. Hsung, N. Lin, & R. L. Breiger (Eds.), Contexts of social capital: Social networks in markets, communities, and families (pp. 93–114). Routledge.

Feld, S. L. (1981). The focused organization of social ties. American Journal of Sociology, 86(5), 1015–1035.CrossRef

Ferlander, S. (2007). The importance of different forms of social capital for health. Acta Sociologica, 50(2), 115–128. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699307077654CrossRef

Forrest, R., & Kearns, A. (2001). Social cohesion, social capital and the neighbourhood. Urban Studies, 38(12), 2125–2143. https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980120087081CrossRef

Frank, K. A., & Yasumoto, J. Y. (1998). Linking action to social structure within a system: Social capital within and between subgroups. American Journal of Sociology, 104(3), 642–686. https://doi.org/10.1086/210083CrossRef

Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. Free Press.

Fukuyama, F. (2001). Social capital, civil society and development. Third World Quarterly, 22(1), 7–20.CrossRef

Fukuyama, F., & Davis, J. (2014). Political Order and Political Decay (Unabridged edition). Brilliance Audio.

Glaeser, E. L., & Redlick, C. (2008). Social Capital and Urban Growth. In NBER Working Papers (No. 14374; NBER Working Papers). National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/14374.html

Glückler, J., Lazega, E., & Hammer, I. (2017). Exploring the interaction of space and networks in the creation of knowledge: An introduction. In J. Glückler, E. Lazega, & I. Hammer (Eds.), Knowledge and networks (pp. 1–21). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45023-0_1CrossRef

Goetz, S. J., & Rupasingha, A. (2006). Wal-Mart and social capital. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 88(5), 1304–1310.CrossRef

Harper, R. (2001). Social Capital. A Review of the Literature. Social Analysis and Reporting Division, Office for National Statistics, London.

Ignjatović, S., & Tomanović, S. (2011). Social Capital and Space. Sociologija i prostor : časopis za istraživanje prostornoga i sociokulturnog razvoja, 49(3 (191)), 269–286. https://doi.org/10.5673/sip.49.3.1

Inkeles, A. (2001). Measuring social capital and its consequences. In J. D. Montgomery & A. Inkeles (Eds.), Social capital as a policy resource (pp. 19–42). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6531-1_2

Jolliffe, I. (2005). Principal component analysis. In Encyclopedia of statistics in behavioral science. Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/0470013192.bsa501

Karlan, D. S. (2005). Using experimental economics to measure social capital and predict financial decisions. The American Economic Review, 95(5), 1688–1699.CrossRef

Kemsley, E. K. (1996). Discriminant analysis of high-dimensional data: A comparison of principal components analysis and partial least squares data reduction methods. Chemometrics and Intelligent Laboratory Systems, 33(1), 47–61. https://doi.org/10.1016/0169-7439(95)00090-9CrossRef

Knack, S. (1999). Social capital and the quality of government: Evidence from the United States. The World Bank. https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-2504CrossRef

Kostova, T., & Roth, K. (2003). Social capital in multinational corporations and a micro-macro model of its formation. The Academy of Management Review, 28(2), 297–317. https://doi.org/10.2307/30040714CrossRef

Lang, R. E., & Hornburg, S. P. (1998). What is social capital and why is it important to public policy? Housing Policy Debate, 9(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.1998.9521284CrossRef

Ledeneva, A. V. (1998). Russia’s economy of favours: Blat. Cambridge University Press.

Lin, N. (1999). Social networks and status attainment. Annual Review of Sociology, 22(1), 467–487.CrossRef

Lin, N. (2001). Building a network theory of social capital. In N. Lin, K. Cook, & R. Burt (Eds.), Social capital: Theory and research (pp. 3–29). Aldine de Gruyter.CrossRef

Lin, N. (2002). Social capital: A theory of social structure and action (Illustrated edition). Cambridge University Press.

Lin, N., & Dumin, M. (1986). Access to occupations through social ties. Social Networks, 8(4), 365–385. https://doi.org/10.1016/0378-8733(86)90003-1CrossRef

Lin, N., & Erickson, B. (Eds.). (2008). Social capital: An international research program. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199234387.001.0001CrossRef

Markowska-Przybyla, U. (2012). Social capital as an elusive factor of socio-economic development. Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics, 9(3), 93–103.

Middleton, A., Murie, A., & Groves, R. (2005). Social capital and neighbourhoods that work. Urban Studies, 42(10), 1711–1738. https://doi.org/10.1080/00420980500231589CrossRef

Montgomery, J. D. (2001). Social capital as a policy resource. In J. D. Montgomery & A. Inkeles (Eds.), Social capital as a policy resource (pp. 1–17). Springer US. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-6531-1_1

Moore, S., & Kawachi, I. (2017). Twenty years of social capital and health research: A glossary. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 71(5), 513–517. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech-2016-208313CrossRef

Moran, P. A. P. (1950). Notes on continuous stochastic phenomena. Biometrika, 37(1/2), 17–23. https://doi.org/10.2307/2332142CrossRef

Newton, K. (2001). Trust, social capital, civil society, and democracy. International Political Science Review / Revue Internationale De Science Politique, 22(2), 201–214.CrossRef

Olson, M. (1971). The logic of collective action: Public goods and the theory of groups. Harvard University Press.

Paldam, M. (2000). Social capital: One or many? definition and measurement. Journal of Economic Surveys, 14(5), 629–653. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-6419.00127CrossRef

Portes, A. (1998). Social capital: Its origins and applications in modern sociology. Annual Review of Sociology, 24, 1–24.CrossRef

Preston, J., & Rajé, F. (2007). Accessibility, mobility and transport-related social exclusion. Journal of Transport Geography, 15(3), 151–160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2006.05.002CrossRef

Pucher, J. (2002). Renaissance of public transport in the United States? Transportation Quarterly, 56(1), 33–49.

Putnam, R. (2001a). Social capital: Measurement and consequences. Isuma: Canadian Journal of Policy Research, 2(Spring 2001), 41–51.

Putnam, R. (2001b). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American Community (1st edn.). Touchstone Books by Simon & Schuster.

Putnam, R., Leonardi, R., & Nanetti, R. Y. (1994). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy (1st ed.). Princeton University Press.CrossRef

Qiao, S., Li, Z., Zhang, J., Sun, X., Garrett, C., & Li, X. (2022). Social capital, urbanization level, and COVID-19 vaccination uptake in the United States: A National Level Analysis. Vaccines, 10(4), 625. https://doi.org/10.3390/vaccines10040625CrossRef

Rencher, A. (2002). Principal component analysis. In Methods of multivariate analysis (pp. 380–407). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/0471271357.ch12

Rogers, S., & Gardner, K. (2015a). Social capital community benchmark survey, Roper Center for public opinion research. https://ropercenter.cornell.edu/featured-collections/2000-social-capital-community-benchmark-survey

Rogers, S. H., & Gardner, K. H. (2015b). Measuring social capital at the neighborhood scale through a community based framework. Routledge.CrossRef

Rohe, W. M., & Stewart, L. S. (1996). Homeownership and neighborhood stability. Housing Policy Debate, 7(1), 37–81. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.1996.9521213CrossRef

Rupasingha, A., & Goetz, S. J. (2007). Social and political forces as determinants of poverty: A spatial analysis. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 36(4), 650–671. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2006.12.021CrossRef

Rupasingha, A., Goetz, S. J., & Freshwater, D. (2000). Social capital and economic growth: A county-level analysis. Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, 32(3), 565–572. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1074070800020654CrossRef

Rupasingha, A., Goetz, S. J., & Freshwater, D. (2006). The production of social capital in US counties. Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics, 35(1), 83–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2005.11.001CrossRef

Rutten, R., Westlund, H., & Boekema, F. (2010). The Spatial dimension of social capital. European Planning Studies, 18(6), 863–871. https://doi.org/10.1080/09654311003701381CrossRef

Serra, R. (2001). Social capital: Meaningful and measurable at the state level? Economic and Political Weekly, 36, 693–704. https://doi.org/10.2307/4410326CrossRef

Shiell, A., Hawe, P., & Kavanagh, S. (2020). Evidence suggests a need to rethink social capital and social capital interventions. Social Science & Medicine (1982), 257, 111930. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.09.006CrossRef

Spellerberg, A. (2001). Framework for the measurement of social capital in New Zealand. Statistics New Zealand.

Spence, L. H. (1993). Rethinking the social role of public housing. Housing Policy Debate, 4(3), 355–368. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.1993.9521137CrossRef

Stone, W. (2001). Measuring social capital: Towards a theoretically informed measurement framework for researching social capital in family and community life. Australian Institute of Family Studies.

Urry, J. (2002). Mobility and Proximity. Sociology, 36(2), 255–274. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038038502036002002CrossRef

Uslaner, E. M. (2002). The Moral foundations of trust (Illustrated edition). Cambridge University Press.

van Oorschot, W., Arts, W., & Gelissen, J. (2006). Social capital in Europe: Measurement and social and regional distribution of a multifaceted phenomenon. Acta Sociologica, 49(2), 149–167. https://doi.org/10.1177/0001699306064770CrossRef

Villalonga-Olives, E., Wind, T. R., & Kawachi, I. (2018). Social capital interventions in public health: A systematic review. Social Science & Medicine, 1982(212), 203–218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2018.07.022CrossRef

Vuchic, V. R. (2017). Transportation for livable cities (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351318167CrossRef

Witte, A. D. (1996). Urban crime: Issues and policies. Housing Policy Debate, 7(4), 731–748. https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.1996.9521241CrossRef

Wold, S., Ruhe, A., Wold, H., & Dunn I, W. J. (1984). The collinearity problem in linear regression. The partial least squares (PLS) approach to generalized inverses. SIAM Journal on Scientific and Statistical Computing, 5(3), 735–743. https://doi.org/10.1137/0905052

Wong, A. S. Y., & Kohler, J. C. (2020). Social capital and public health: Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. Globalization and Health, 16(1), 88. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-020-00615-xCrossRef

Title: The Measurement of Social Capital in America: A Reassessment
Authors: Călin Vâlsan
Zizi Goschin
Elena Druică
Publication date: 08-10-2022
Publisher: Springer Netherlands
Published in: Social Indicators Research / Issue 1/2023
Print ISSN: 0303-8300
Electronic ISSN: 1573-0921
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-022-03007-3

Springer Professional

Abstract

Please log in to get access to your license.

Dont have a licence yet? Then find out more about our products and how to get one now:

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik"

Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

Other articles of this Issue 1/2023

Income and Health in Predicting Older Adults’ Social Capabilities in China: The Mediating Role of Social Engagement

The livelihood impacts of COVID-19 in urban South Africa: a view from below

The Social Dimension of the European Union: A Means to lock out Social Competition?

Surviving in Crisis Mode: The Effect of Material Hardship and Social Support on Emotional Wellbeing Among People in Poverty During COVID-19

Welfare Regimes and Intergenerational Social Mobility: An Institutional Explanation of the Great Gatsby Curve

Capability Index: Applying a Fuzzy-Based Decision-Making Method to Evaluate Social Inclusion in Urban Areas Using the Capability Approach

Premium Partner