In this literature review I am going to be writing about what authors think the meaning of social capital is. There is a lot of literature on this topic, I will be looking at variety of different authors and the main key thinkers such as Putnam, Coleman and Bourdieu.
Firstly according to Putnam (1993) social capital is when people work together to pursue the same objectives, using the same norms, networks, and trust. This can be done through associations such as sports clubs and choral societies. This means that communities who have keen norms and a variety of networks will have higher educational achievement, less crime, quicker economic growth and better health. He also found two types of social capital; they were bonding social capital and bridging social capital. Bonding social capital relates to shared identity as it brings people in the community together with common interests on things such as education. However it may have negative effects for society on the whole but positive effects for certain individuals who belong to closed social groups. Bridging social capital relates to diversity as it is the relationship between people in the community and their external environment. This means it brings people together who have different interests and outlooks. (Davies, 2001).
Another author who looked at social capital was Coleman (1990) he said that it was among physical, human and financial as a neglected form of capital in the production process. He defined it, expectations and obligations, authority, norms, sanctions and responsibility, these are things that are deliberately put in to the organisation so that it can achieve effectiveness. He also sees it as a way of considering the relationship between families and the community as well as between social inequality and success in education.
However The World Bank, (1999) sees social capital as the relationships, institutions and norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society’s social...