Studying social capital in situ: A qualitative approach

Abstract

In recent years, the concept of social capital -broadly defined as cooperative networks based on regular, personal contact and trust -has been widely applied within cross-disciplinary human science research, primarily by economists, political scientists and sociologists. In this article, I argue why and how fieldwork anthropologists should fill a gap in the social capital literature by highlighting how social capital is being built in situ. I suggest that the recent inventions of "bridging" and "bonding" social capital, e.g., inclusive and exclusive types of social capital, are fruitful concepts to apply in an anthropological fieldwork setting. Thus, my case study on the relationship between local people and newcomers in the rural Danish marginal municipality of Ravnsborg seeks to reveal processes of bridging/bonding social capital building. Such a case study at the micro level has general policy implications for a cultural clash between two different groups by demonstrating the complexity of a social capital mix where bonding social capital strongly prevails. This ultimately leads to a "social trap" (Rothstein 2005), implying widespread distrust and serious social and economic costs for a whole population.

Network embeddedness in the internationalization of biotechnology entrepreneurs

“…In line with Svendsen (2006), at the beginning of the interview neutral and non-threatening questions were asked to establish a relationship of mutual trust. The interviewees were first asked to describe their business in general, and were subsequently questioned more specifically about their founding background, their internationalization process and their domestic and international network ties.…”

Internationalization pathways among family‐owned SMEs

“…Following Svendsen (2006), at the beginning of the interview, neutral and non-threatening questions were asked to establish a relationship of mutual trust. The interviewees were first asked to describe their business in general and thereafter their operations related to internationalization.…”

Bonding and bridging among first generation Asian migrants in Australian protestant churches

“…The complexity of how exactly how migrants generate social capital, and the nature of that capital, is being revealed by detailed qualitative studies of small groups of migrants (see, for example, Ryan 2011, Moroşanu 2016, Iosifides et al 2007, Svendsen 2006. This quantitative study uses proxy measures of bonding and bridging social ties to investigate how they vary between migrants and non-migrants in a large sample of church congregations.…”

“…NCL surveys have usually included a range of items that relate to bonding and bridging social ties and which have enabled studies of social capital as a resource of the collective community (Leonard and Bellamy 2015, 2006, Robbins, Francis, and Powell 2012.…”