Spring Break
The importance of social capital
Anne Marie Merline
Issue date: 9/29/08 Section: Opinion
This week I feel like my column mimics the commercial for the Capital One credit card. The commercial asks viewers "What's in your wallet?" This week I ask, "Who's on your cell phone?"
Again, this year, in my first semester class on community we study a concept called "social capital."
Different from other ideas such as economic capital (things) and cultural capital (human capabilities), social capital is measured in the strength of the social networks that any one person has with the wider community.
How could I make the importance of this concept clear to these first semester students in a way that would resonate with them?
I'm sure you are thinking that the warm and fuzzy term "social capital" was just a word created by liberal hippies like Anne Marie. Au Contraire, mes amis. This term was first used in social science research in the 1960s and 1970s to make statements about the value of social connectedness.
Before them, 19th-century thinkers like social James Madison, Alexis de Tocqueville and John Dewey used this concept, although it remained unnamed.
I first explained the form of capital that would most easily resonate with them. Living in the U.S., most of us most easily can relate to economic capital -- things.
I picked up my cell phone to show them "something."
To set my students up for the idea that other types of capital are more important to me, I pointed out the physical attributes of my cell phone. It is over 3 years old, bulky, clunky, cracked, the charger cord frequently does not plug in, the numbers on the outside have shrunk in the last year, and I can no longer read the display.
Not many students would envy this piece of capital. A student of mine, though, humored me, and traded cell phones with me so that I could make a point about how we value "things."
This student's phone was way better than mine. It was thin, sleek, and I am sure, much easier to use. We traded cell phones for a minute or two so that I could make the concept of social capital clear.
Again, this year, in my first semester class on community we study a concept called "social capital."
Different from other ideas such as economic capital (things) and cultural capital (human capabilities), social capital is measured in the strength of the social networks that any one person has with the wider community.
How could I make the importance of this concept clear to these first semester students in a way that would resonate with them?
I'm sure you are thinking that the warm and fuzzy term "social capital" was just a word created by liberal hippies like Anne Marie. Au Contraire, mes amis. This term was first used in social science research in the 1960s and 1970s to make statements about the value of social connectedness.
Before them, 19th-century thinkers like social James Madison, Alexis de Tocqueville and John Dewey used this concept, although it remained unnamed.
I first explained the form of capital that would most easily resonate with them. Living in the U.S., most of us most easily can relate to economic capital -- things.
I picked up my cell phone to show them "something."
To set my students up for the idea that other types of capital are more important to me, I pointed out the physical attributes of my cell phone. It is over 3 years old, bulky, clunky, cracked, the charger cord frequently does not plug in, the numbers on the outside have shrunk in the last year, and I can no longer read the display.
Not many students would envy this piece of capital. A student of mine, though, humored me, and traded cell phones with me so that I could make a point about how we value "things."
This student's phone was way better than mine. It was thin, sleek, and I am sure, much easier to use. We traded cell phones for a minute or two so that I could make the concept of social capital clear.
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