Social Capital
Social capital is the social glue that helps people, organisations and communities to work together. It comes from everyday contact between people, as a result of their forming social connections and networks based on trust, shared values and reciprocity ( or give and take ).
'Social capital refers to the institutions, relationships, and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society's social interactions... Social capital is not just the sum of the institutions which underpin a society - it is the glue that holds them together' (The World Bank 1999).
As the philosopher David Hume put it:
'Your corn is ripe to-day; mine will be so to-morrow. 'Tis profitable for us both, that I shou'd labour with you to-day, and that you shou'd aid me to-morrow'
Or as the American baseball player, Yoggi Berra proclaimed:
'If you don't come to somebody's funeral, they wont come to yours'
Read more about social capital in the street level guide produced by North East Social Forum ‘Connected and Collected: An easy guide to social capital' downloadable here or in hard copy (multi copies available) from the Community Foundation
Does social capital matter?
Thee is lots of evidence to show that communities rich in social capital are successful in all sorts of ways. For example:
- Crime is lower in places where people know their neighbours
- When parents take an active interest in their child's school, the teachers try harder and the children do better
- People who are active in their communities are often more tolerant, less cynical and have fewer prejudices than those who are not.
- Connected communities usually find it easier to resolve collective problems
As the World Bank put it:
‘Increasing evidence shows that social capital is critical for societies to prosper economically and for development to be sustainable'
In other words, there is a link between building stronger communities and economic prosperity.
North East Gets Healthy, Wealthy and Wise
The highlight of our work on social capital so far is 'Healthy Wealthy and Wise' conference held in June at the Discovery Museum when Robert Putman, author of best selling 'Bowling Alone' gave a scintillating address and dicussion about his work (It scored a straight 'excellent' in the post conference evaluation!). For a flavour of an event that has become the talk of Tyneside click here.
The speakers at Healthy, Wealthy and Wise were (in alphabetical order) Kate Adie, Sir Jeremy Beecham, Lewis M Feldstein, Andrew Kerr, Robert D Putnam, Darra Singh and Kate Welch. You can download their presentations here:
Whether of not you were there, join the post conference discussion on Wednesday 16 July to be held at MEA House, Newcastle, starting at 4pm
What is social capital like in the North East?
At the inaugural regional conference on social capital held in Newcastle in 2006, it was suggested that the North East lags behind building social capital. This has been refuted by Katie Schmuecker in a report just published by ippr north ‘Social capital in the North East: How Do We Measure Up'.
The primary conclusion is that the North East has similar levels of social capital to the rest of the country. In terms of people's views of their local area and their level of trust in neighbours, Parliament, local authorities and people in general, the North East is similar to the British average and most other regions
The region that emerges as most exceptional from our analysis is London,where people are more negative about their neighbourhood, have lower levels of trust and are the least likely to speak to their neighbours. This may suggest more fractured neighbourhoods in London, a finding that should give pause for thought about the type of regional development model that the North East wants to follow, and highlight the need for the goal of economic growth to be complemented by social goals, such as enhancing social capital.
The North East also emerges from this analysis as exceptional in some respects:
- Sixty two per cent of North Easterners report meeting with relatives at least once a week, ignificantly more than the national average (49 per cent) and each of the Southern English regions.
- North Easterners are also significantly more likely to speak to their neighbours at least once a week (80 per cent) compared to a national average of 74 per cent, and a London region average of 63 per cent.These family and neighbourly contacts provide evidence of ‘strong communities' and strong social support networks.
The findings could also signify exclusive and inward looking communities, and a low level of geographic mobility. The challenge for policy makers is to preserve the positive aspects of strong communities while increasing the opportunities open to people.
The full report is downloadable here
Social Capital at the Community Foundation
We've become increasingly interested in how our grants build social capital at local level. The vast majority of our grants support small community groups that in different ways create social capital and build stronger communities.
Some communities just buzz. For example, presentations to North East Social Capital Forum from area as different as Allendale and Cowpen, Blyth show that social regeneration can happen in all sorts of communities. How can we distill and reproduce these examples of good practice.?
We've also had presentations about how to build social capital in schools from Greggs Breakfast Clubs and at work from eaga plc. We are also interested in how faith communities build social capital.
To read case studies about social capital in the North East prepared by Regeneration Exchange, click here
We have build links with projects in Leicestershire that are building social capital through community development work and case studies of other significant work in the UK by Karen Taws can be downloaded here.
Join the Forum
North East Social Capital Forum was set up with funding from ONE North East and is manged by the Community Foundation in partnership with Regeneration Exchange.
The aims are to:
- Increase understanding of social capital in economic and social regeneration
- Identify good practice in building social capitalin the North east
- Develop ways of measuring and monitoring social capital
- Provide opportunities for training and dissemination
- Link into other work on social capital in the UK
Forum members are policy makers and practioners from across the North East and the Forum welcomes new members from whatever background. The formal funded project ends in June after Healthy, Wealthy and Wise but to receive information about future events and meetings contact George Hepburn on 0191 222 0945 gh@communityfoundation.org.uk
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