Exam 4: Social Capital

How does James Coleman define social capital?

"Social capital is defined by its function. It is not a single entity, but a variety of different entities having two characteristics in common: They all consist of some aspect of social structure, and they facilitate certain actions of individuals who are within the structure."

What are the mechanisms by which greater social capital (as a group-level construct) influences population health?

-Better equipped to undertake collective action -Better able to enforce and maintain social norms -More reciprocity exchanges between network members -Wider diffusion of innovations via information channels

What are the two types of social capital?

-Bonding -Bridging

How does collective efficacy relate to social capital?

"'The benefits of education for health - which have proved robust and substantial across a range of studies - are dependent on social context.' If this finding holds in future studies, it would help illustrate why low education and poor health are synonymous: poorly educated people find it difficult to rise above the effects of low social capital to improve their health." -Cockerham

What is the collective approach to social capital?

"By contrast, the practice of treating social capital as a collective characteristics treats it as an extra-individual, contextual influence on health outcomes. This practice is in turn reflected by measurement approaches that emphasize the degree to which social cohesion exists within a group (or alternatively, if one hews to the network-based definition of social capital, by attempts to describe group characteristics through whole network analysis)." - Kawachi

Is having greater social capital always beneficial?

"Each mechanism is equally applicable to the so-called downside of social capital. Thus, a community efficacy could just as easily use those resources to oppress and discriminate against outsiders (the South Boston riots [by whites] during the busing and forced desegregation of schools during the 1960s come to mind)" -Kawachi

Where should researchers focus attention in the future?

"In summary, much work remains to be carried out in shoring up he empirical evidence base linking social capital to health outcomes. There is a need to improve the measurement of social capital by applying reliable and valid survey instruments, or by attempting whole network-based approaches. Panel data, objective assessment of health status, and multilevel analysis are good starting points for methodological rigor, but in addition, research needs to strengthen causal inference, such as... the use of natural experiments." -Kawachi

What is the connection between collective efficacy and health?

"Individuals living in neighborhoods with higher levels of collective efficacy reported better overall physical health. They found that education was strongly associated with self-rated physical health, but this effect largely disappeared in neighborhoods with low collective efficacy." -Cockerham

What is the individual approach to social capital?

"Methodological individualists tend to view individual actors within a social structure as either possessing or lacking the ability to secure benefits by virtue of their membership in networks." -Kawachi

What did Sampson discover about collective efficacy?

"Neighborhood clusters ranking high in collective efficacy showed significantly lower rates of violence, homicide, and low birth-weights than those neighborhoods low in such efficacy, leading Sampson to suggest that collective efficacy has implications for health generally." -Cockerham

What did Ichiro Kawachi write?

"Social Capital and Health"

What is the main takeaway on social capital and health?

"Social capital may be able to enhance health and extend longevity not only through the provision of mutual aid and support, but also through the maintenance of social norms promoting positive health lifestyles with respect to smoking, alcohol use, diet, exercise, and the like. Consequently, social capital is of interest to medical sociologists because of its potential for serving as a social mechanism linking inequality to health or, conversely, enhancing the health of people in neighborhoods and communities with high levels of it." -Cockerham

How does Bourdieu define social capital?

"The aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to possession of a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition - or in other words, to membership in a group - which provides each of its members with the backing of the collectively-owned capital, a 'credential' which entitles them to credit, in the various sense of the word" ... group membership

Why is multilevel study the most convincing design for empirical evidence?

"The merit of multilevel study is being able to test the counterfactual question, 'If two individuals with exchangeable characteristics (i.e., the same sociodemographic characteristics, occupying the same socioeconomic position, with the same level of social ties and trust of others) were observed in a high social capital community and a low social capital community, would their health outcomes differ, all other things equal?'"

What is the problem with individual-level studies of social capital?

"They tend to be limited by common methods bias: individuals' perceptions of the trustworthiness of their neighbors are potentially contaminated by unobserved characteristics such as personality and negative affectivity that simultaneously influence health status."

Does Bourdieu apply his approach to health?

Bourdieu did not apply his approach directly to health, and only a few studies in medical sociology use his approach.

How is Bourdieu and Coleman's definition of social capital different?

-Bourdieu: social network perspective (e.g., access to resources determined by position in network). Focuses on competition within a field using resources that are unequally distributed. -Coleman: social cohesion perspective (e.g., trust, reciprocity, exchanges, norms, sanctions). Focuses on consensus, including trustworthiness of social environment, reciprocal exchanges, information channels, norms and sanctions, etc.

What are two major questions for using concept of social capital to improve health?

-Can interventions actually build social capital? -Will strengthening social capital actually improve health?

What was the format of Gaag and Snijder's Resource Generator

-Checklist of social resources that respondents can access through their networks -Items phrased "Do you know anyone who __________?" owns a car, has knowledge about financial matters, can baby sit for your children, etc.

What distinguishes Lin's approach to social capital?

-Cockerham: "... concept of social capital is grounded in classical Marxist sociology and especially Marx's analysis of how capital emerges from social relations between capitalists (the bourgeoisie) and workers through the process of commodity production and consumption."

Is social capital more individual or collective?

-Cockerham: "Social capital is generally described in the research literature as a characteristic of social structures consisting of a network of cooperative relationships between residents of particular neighborhoods and communities that are reflected in the levels of interpersonal trust and norms of reciprocity and mutual aid. In effect, social capital refers to a supportive social atmosphere in specific places where people look out for one another and interact positively with a sense of belonging.""

How is social capital subjective?

-Cognitively -Positive feelings from awareness of belonging to supportive community that promote sense of well-being

What are the forms of social capital that Bourdieu recognizes?

-Economic: money and property rights -Cultural: taste and education -Social: social obligations (connections) and titles (e.g., doctor, general, earl)

What happened in Roseto, Pennsylvania and what did the study show?

-Heart disease: 50% lower in Italian community than surrounding communities -Unlike other communities, Roseto had strong family and social ties, church participation, intraethnic marriage

Where does much debate remain in regards to social capital?

-How we should define social capital. -If social capital is an individual or collective attribute. -If it can be used as a health promotion strategy

What are some criticisms of survey instruments?

-Include items that are antecedents or consequences of social capital, but not part of social capital itself -Rely on proxies of social capital (e.g., crime rates, voting participation), which can be called conceptual stretching." -Are tautological: circular reasoning (e.g., "a community with low crime rates must have high social capital because it has low crime rates")

Is saying: subjective = individual and objective = structural correct?

-No -Rather social capital = resources embedded in communities that individuals can draw upon to improve one's life situation (including health).

What is the classical study on social capital and health in the US?

-Public health study in 1950s on mostly-Italian community of Roseto, Pennsylvania.

How does Lin's Position Generator measure social capital on the individual level and why?

-Respondent asked whether they have access to people with high prestige occupations (e.g., doctor, lawyer) -Why? High-prestige people are assumed to correlate with ability to access resources (e.g., support, info, advice).

Which contemporary theorists are most important for understanding social capital?

-Robert Putnam -Nan lin -Pierre Bourdieu -Robert Sampson

What is social capital?

-Robert Putnam: social capital as "community-level resources seen in social relationships involving networks of people, norma, and levels of trust" -Bryan Turner: "'investments' that people make in society, such as their membership in formal and informal groups, networks, and institutions."

What is bridging?

-Social capital that ties together people of different backgrounds (e.g., civil rights movement, youth service groups, ecumenical religious organizations). -Social WD40

What bonding?

-Social capital that ties together people of same background (e.g., ethnic fraternal organizations, women's church groups, country clubs). -Social superglue

How do social networks and social capital matter for health? (TC, HPN, O, PT)

-Social networks furnish tangible assistance that reduces stress and increases safety (e.g., money, convalescent care, transportation) -Social networks reinforce health-promoting norms (e.g., smoking, alcohol, diet) -Stronger social networks are able to organize quality medical services (e.g., hospitals, clinics) -Social capital may serve as a physiological triggering mechanism stimulating the immune system of individuals to block stress and fight disease.

How is social capital objective?

-Structural -Provision of assistance when in need (e.g., advice, help when sick, law enforcement, medical services)

What are the four basic methods of measurement?

-Surveys of individuals or groups -Sociometric methods -Experimental elicitation of trust and cooperation -Qualitativ approaches

What arguments are made against using social capital as a health promotion strategy?

-We should be focusing on poverty reduction, and social capital is a distraction from that -Explaining poor health as lack of social capital = victim blaming -Even if we could improve social cohesion, it sometimes has negative consequences

"Qualitative approaches to investigating social capital have yielded important insights into the _______ and _______ of the links between social capital and health that quantitative studies do not reveal."

-complexity -nuances

What kind of approach do economists advocate for?

-experimental approaches -measurements based on observable behavior (e.g., dropping an envelope containing money)

What are individual cohesion-based measurement methods?

-individual perception surveys -individual behavior surveys

What was Robert Putnam's major work on social capital?

Bowling Alone

What is collective efficacy?

Capacity of neighborhoods to mobilize social action for positive outcomes

Lin: "Social capital is rooted in social _____ and social relations and is conceived as resources embedded in social sturcture that are accessed and/or mobilized in purposive actions... Individuals may change positions within [the] structure, but social capital remains associated with the ____ rather than the ____.

-networks -position -person

What are individual network-based measurement methods?

-position generator -resource generator

Bonding causes social r____ and s___ to be stronger, while bridging l____ communities and individuals to resources and information.

-reciprocity -solidarity -linking

What is the group network-based measurement method?

-sociometric or whole social network analysis

What is the group cohesion-based measurement method?

-survey responses aggregated to group level

'Instruments that measure social cohesion typically consist of multi-item scales that inquire about the _________ of neighbors, norms of _________ and mutual aid, and the extent to which residents share the same _________."

-trustworthiness -reciprocity -values

The search for ________ mechanism led Robert Sampson to create ________ __________theory.

-underlying -collective efficacy

What is Durkheim's 4 types of suicide?

1. Altruistic 2. Anomic 3. Fatalistic 4. Egoistic

What are the 3 ways social capital can benefit health?

1. Direct 2. Indirect 3. Interactional

Which matters, the amount or type of social capital?

Both

How does Bourdieu approach compare with that of Putnam and Lin?

Cockerham: "Bourdieu emphasizes the resources of networks, while Putnam emphasizes the cohesion of networks. Like Lin, Bourdieu also recognizes class disparities in social capital. He maintains that the amount of social capital a person possesses depends on (1) the size of the network whose connections the person can effictively mobilize and (2) the volume of capital posessed by the person that he or she can claim through connections to those networks."

Is social capital individual or collective in nature?

Cockerham: "Bourdieu views economic and cultural capital as owned by the person; social capital is a resource that accrues to individuals through their membership in particular groups or networks. Consequently, social capital is a characteristic of social networks from which individuals draw benefits."

Whose approach to social capital is more popular, Bourdieu or Coleman's?

Coleman's

Which approach is more dominant in population health (collective or individual)?

Collective

What is a major hurdle in sociometric analysis?

Defining boundaries of networks -some situations: boundaries are easily identified (e.g. schools, companies). -other situations: boundaries are difficult to identify (e.g. neighborhoods) -this is why few studies use sociometric approach

Who distrusts survey responses about perceptions, opinions, and attitudes?

Economists

What is the indirect way social capital can benefit health?

Effects on wider social, economic, political, physical environment (which serves as determinant of health).

Does Lin apply his approach to social capital to health?

Even though he is a medical sociologist, he has not applied it to health.

What is the direct way social capital can benefit health?

Extension of community's resources to individual (e.g., medical services or caregiving).

What was the thesis of Bowling Alone?

It was about the downturn of the US civic engagement since 1970s ---> decline in social capital

Social characteristics of communities are l_____ to health of residents.

Linked

What does sociometric analysis measure?

Measures social capital in entire social networks -Method: characterize entire network by interviewing all alters nominated by ego and all their alters until saturation reached.

What are critiques of how Lin's Position Generator measured individual social capital?

Occupational prestige NOT relevant for all types of resources (e.g., receiving emotional support from surgeon not necessarily better than receiving it from a priest)

Who was the first sociologist to formulate the concept of social capital?

Pierre Bourdieu

How important is social capital for health?

Putnam: "Of all the domains in which I have traced the consequences of social capital, in none is the importance of social connection so well established as in the case of health and well-being."

What is the benchmark for social capital in communities?

Reciprocity

How is collective efficacy measured?

Sampson asked residents if neighborhoods could be counted on to act if: -children were skipping school -children were showing disrespect -fight broke out in front of house -fire station was threatened with budget cuts

What are qualitative approaches and how do they obtain information?

Small-scale studies that delve more deeply into complex social situations

What concept is one of the most popular exports from sociology to population health?

Social Capital

What does Lin's Position Generator measure?

Social capital at individual (or collective) level from network perspective

What is the interactional way social capital can benefit health?

Social capital interacts with other determinants of health at individual or group level (e.g., education may have greater health benefits in communities with higher social capital).

How does Pierre Bourdieu define social capital?

Social capital is "the aggregate of actual or potential resources linked to possession of a durable network."

What is the sense of obligation to help others with the understanding that they or someone else will help you at some point in the future?

Social reciprocity

What do we know about social cohesion and inequality?

Stronger association between social cohesion and health outcomes in LESS egalitarian societies -"This pattern seems to argue against the stand of political theory that posits that strong welfare states tent to crowd out associational activities and norms of mutual assistance. If anything, social cohesion would appear to be even more salient in explaining the health variations among citizens belonging to societies with weak safety-net provisions, for example, in health care, public education, and unemployment protections." -Kawachi

What is the most common method in population health for assessing social capital at both the collective and individual level?

Surveys

What happened when younger generation in Roseto became upwardly mobile, moved away, and married outside the ethnic group?

The heart disease of these people exceeded other communities. -Cockerham: "The result of this study and others that followed indicated that people embedded in supportive social relationships had better health and longevity."

Are studies like the Roseto study grounded theoretically?

_Yes, Bryan Turner argues that the Roseto study and others like it are a contemporary application of Emile Durkheim's work on suicide (even though Durkheim never uses the term social capital)

Most researchers think that social capital ________ health.

benefits

Bonding creates strong in-group loyalty BUT...

can create strong out-group antagonism too.

Strong ties are more effective at what?

collective action

"Whereas physical capital refers to physical objects and human capital refers to properties of individuals, social capital refers to _____ among individuals - social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them." -Putnam

connections

Less face-to-face interaction increases or decreases intimate connections?

decreases

How is social capital measured?

depends on how social capital is defined -Individual or collective? -Network-based or cohesion-based

Weak ties are more effective at what?

distributing information

What concept is social capital based on?

economic capital

Integration in society = protective against what kind of suicide

egoistic

Measures of association between social cohesion and health outcomes (physical, mental, and health behaviors) are (not/fairly) consistent.

fairly

What is an example of qualitative approaches?

finding the downside of social capital

The Resource Generator (has/has not) been reported to correlate well with health outcomes.

has

The majority of population health studies focuses on what?

health effects of social cohesion

Altruistic

high integration

Fatalistic

high regulation

Greater social investments ---> Greater social ____________ ---> Better health and well-being

integration

How does Lin define social capital?

investments in social relations with expected marketplace returns

People with little social capital have greater social i_______, d_______, and i_______.

isolation, depression and illness

What do surveys measure for individual behaviors?

items such as participation in civic associations

What do surveys measure for individual perceptions?

items such as trustworthiness of neighbors

Egoistic

low integration

Anomic

low regulation

Is the concept of social capital new or old in sociology?

new

Are neighborhood ties a norm in urban settings according to Robert Sampson?

no

Typically residents in low-SES areas have (poorer/better) health

poorer

What does surveys of individual perceptions and behaviors measure?

social capital at individual level from cohesion perspective

What does van der Gaag and Snijder's Resource Generator measure?

social capital at individual level from network perspective

What does egocentric analysis measure?

social capital in networks from individual perspective (ex. how many friends do you have, and how often do you see them?)

Why do sociologists not like experimental approaches?

they often want representative samples (ex. dropping an envelope full of money to see what someone does does not represent what the community as a whole would do, just that one person)

Has the meaning of community changed from previous eras according to Robert Sampson?

yes