SOCIAL CAPITAL

Social Capital



Learning and Social Capital

Part A

Social Capital

The term social capital refers to the means that are available through business and personal networks. These means are available to us in the form of resources. These resources comprise of ideas, information, opportunities of business, financial assets, leads, influence and power, cooperation, trust and goodwill. In social capital, the term social emphasizes that the mentioned resources are not the individual assets, not any individual owns these resources. The resources exist in relationship networks (Falk, 1998, p.4). I think the social capital can be somewhat related to the human capital. If any one considers the human capital as what the individual knows (that is the sum of the individual capabilities, experience and knowledge), then right of using social capital relies on how an individual knows the diversity, quality and size of his/her business or personal networks. However, ahead of it, the social capital also relies on who is not known by an individual, if he/she is indirectly linked by means of his/her network (Catts, 2005).

The term capital focuses on that social capital, same as financial capital and human capital, is helpful. The capital enables us to establish value, achieve our desired goals, get planned things done, fulfil our objectives of life, and make our charities for the world. In my opinion, it would be an understatement, considering the social capital as being productive: not any individual can survive, or even be successful in any field of life-without this social capital phenomenon (Campbell, 2000). However, several individuals believe that they must be capable to survive without this phenomenon of social capital: they are at mistake in considering the social capital just in the context of success. Several other individuals pretend to succeed without the social capital, making use of social capital phenomenon as if it were unethical and improper. These attitudes and beliefs are sourced in the individualism's myth: the cultural faith that everyone fails or succeed depending upon individual abilities and effort (Woolcock, 1998, p.151).

What I have analysed in my learning is that social capital makes public economic success. The economic factor that is affected by the social capital includes: capability of organization, inter-relational trust, civic involvement in daily functioning of an individual. I have analysed that decline in, or lack of social capital exists ahead of spiritual, economic and psychological malaise for individuals all across the world. Whereas, there is a large amount of literature, that deplores the increase in individualism and public commitment. The literature of social capital has provided this issue with increased forceful rationale for necessity, or one can say that the bottom line. Same as the inter-personal features of total quality management (TQM) accompanied in team-building and trust-building to the educational sectors, the idea of social capital carries the similar values that are the middle stage in the learning context (Farrell, 2004, p.5). The identification of social capital in the form of determinant for local economic development guides the attention of growth ...