Bonding and bridging social capital and their associations with self‐evaluated community resilience: A comparative study of East Asia

The purpose of this study is to test key social capital indicators in a disaster context by considering the bonding and bridging types of social capital. Using the East Asian Social Survey, this study chooses three behavioural/cognitive elements of social capital—social trust, voluntary association membership, and personal networks—and divides them into bonding and bridging social capital, in‐group and out‐group trust, homogeneous and heterogeneous membership, and strong and weak ties to test their effects on self‐evaluated community resilience to natural hazards. The results showed that social trust and personal networks had strong positive effects, but the effect of voluntary association membership was positive in societies with high rates of membership (Japan and South Korea) and negative in a society with a low rate of membership (Taiwan). Furthermore, while bonding social capital generally showed a stronger effect than bridging social capital in East Asia, a society with more frequent and intense disasters (Japan) showed a strong effect of heterogenous membership on self‐evaluated community resilience. This study connects two aspects of social capital studies—the elements and the types of social capital—and the findings imply that the relationship between social capital and community resilience may have some mediator variables.     

社交网站使用与青少年生活满意度的关系:一个有调节的中介模型

为探讨社交网站使用、线上社会资本、自尊与青少年生活满意度的关系,本研究在社会资本理论及自尊的社会计量器理论的基础上,构建了一个有调节的中介模型。采用社交网站使用强度问卷、线上社会资本问卷、自尊量表以及生活满意度问卷对初（1）到高（3）六个年级的1368名中学生（M=14.63岁,SD=1.75）进行调查研究,结果显示：（1）社交网站使用强度与线上黏接/桥接型社会资本和生活满意度均呈显著正相关;线上黏接型社会资本与自尊、生活满意度均呈显著正相关;线上桥接型社会资本与自尊呈显著正相关,与生活满意度的相关不显著;自尊与生活满意度呈显著正相关。（2）线上黏接型社会资本能够在社交网站使用强度与生活满意度的关系中起部分中介作用。（3）社交网站使用对生活满意度的直接预测作用及线上黏接型社会资本的中介效应会受到自尊的调节,相对于自尊水平低的青少年,社交网站使用更有利于高自尊个体获得线上黏接型社会资本、提升生活满意度。研究结果不仅有利于从社会资本理论及自尊的社会计量器理论视角理解社交网站使用与青少年生活满意度的关系,而且对引导青少年获取社会资本、提升生活满意度具有启示意义。     

The Role of the Quality of College‐Based Relationship on Social Media in College‐to‐Work Transition of Korean College Students: The Longitudinal Examination of Intimacy on Social Media,Social Capital,and Loneliness

This study investigated the mediation effects of social capital on the associations between the quality of relationship, intimacy in particular, with college friends on social media and loneliness during college‐to‐work transition of Korean college students. Longitudinal data were collected from three surveys with a 6‐month interval. The first wave of the survey was completed by 521 participants; 110 graduates participated in the second wave, and 175 in the third wave. Latent growth modeling analysis revealed that the linear growth function produced a better fit than the no‐growth models for intimacy on social media, social capital, and loneliness. While intimacy on social media and bonding capital increased during the three‐time interval, bridging capital and loneliness decreased. In addition, the slope of intimacy on social media was positively related to the slopes of bridging and bonding capital, both of which, in turn, had a negative association with the slope of loneliness. These findings indicate the beneficial role of the quality of relationship on social media in college‐to‐work transition.     

Social Capital and Community Group Participation: Examining ‘Bridging’ and ‘Bonding’ in the Context of a Healthy Living Centre in the UK

Social capital has been widely advocated as a way of understanding and building community participation in the interest of health improvement. However, the concept as proposed by Putnam, has been criticised for presenting an overly romanticised account of complex community relations. This paper presents analysis from a qualitative evaluation of a Healthy Living Centre (HLC) in the North of England, to examine the utility of the concept of social capital in this context. We found the concepts of ‘bridging’ and ‘bonding’ social capital were useful – though not without limitations – in helping to make sense of the complexities and contradictions in participants’ experiences of community group participation. 'Bridging' helped provide an understanding of how the decline in shared social spaces such as local shops impacts on social relationships. 'Bonding' highlighted how community group membership can have positive and negative implications for individuals and the wider community. It was found that skilled group leadership was key to strengthening bridging capital. Politically, in the UK, community participation is seen as having an essential role in social change, for example, its centrality to the coalition government's idea of the ‘Big Society’. A micro‐examination of this HLC using the lens of social capital provides a valuable critical insight into community participation. It shows that this kind of initiative can be successful in building social capital, given conditions such as an appropriate setting and effective leadership. However, they cannot substitute for other kinds of investment in the physical infrastructure of a community. Copyright © 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Does Social Capital Affect Immigrant Political Participation? Lessons from a Small-N Study of Migrant Political Participation in Rome

Social capital captures the idea that relationships hold value. While this idea has intuitive appeal, there is significant debate regarding its utility to political science research. This article employs original data collected in Rome, Italy, to test a new model that recognizes the distinction between levels of social capital and introduces the idea of conflict between these levels into the field’s current theorizing on immigrant political participation. The findings presented here lend further support for the proposed relationship between migration-related factors, such as language proficiency and length of stay and participation. The article’s main finding is that the interactions between group-level and individual-level social capital plays an important role in shaping participation. Specifically, because it reinforces group-level social capital, bonding social capital favors participation in the formal, institutionally sanctioned activity of voting, while bridging social capital—which mitigates the effect of group-level social capital—favors participation in the informal political activity, protest.     

Religious ecology,floaters, and crime: the links between social capital,institutionally disengaged youth,and homicide

We consider two distinct research streams in macro-criminology. The first is how religious ecology, articulated as bridging and bonding capital, is linked to the rates of violence. The second concerns how institutionally disconnected youth, known as “floaters,” are highly vulnerable to violence because they fall outside their community’s umbrella of social control. Using county-level data on religious ecology, institutional engagement, and violence, we connect the two ideas with the following theoretical story line. When a community’s religious ecology is characterized by more bonding capital (versus bridging capital), such places provided fewer institutional entry points for crime-prone youth, thus increasing the proportion of floaters in the area. Because these floaters lack institutional social control, we should observe higher rates of violence as a result. Our analysis offers a social control mechanism by which social capital influences the rates of violence at the macro-level. We discuss the implications of our findings.     

Religious Involvement and Status-Bridging Social Capital

Is religious involvement positively associated with having influential friends or is religious involvement unrelated to this kind of social capital? Building on the distinction between the “bonding” and “bridging” aspects of social capital, I distinguish two kinds of bridging social capital—identity‐bridging and status‐bridging—that have been a source of terminological confusion. I examine the relationship between religious involvement and status‐bridging social capital by analyzing data from a large nationally representative survey of the U.S. adult population that included questions about friendships with elected public officials, corporation executives, scientists, and persons of wealth. The data show that membership in a religious congregation and holding a congregational leadership position are most consistently associated with greater likelihood of having these kinds of friendships. The data also show that frequency of religious attendance is largely unrelated to these measures of social capital and that there are some significant variations among religious traditions and size of congregation.     

Measuring religious social capital: scale properties of the modified Williams Religious Social Capital Index among Friends of cathedrals

This article evaluates a new version of the Williams Religious Social Capital Index (WRSCI), for use within Friends’ associations of Church of England cathedrals. Like the WRSCI, the modified measure (WRSCIM) takes into consideration four distinct elements: trust, and bonding, bridging and linking social capital. As part of a larger project, 923 Friends from six cathedrals responded to the 12 items concerning religious social capital. The modified index achieved satisfactory levels of internal consistency reliability; and construct validity was supported by a clear relationship between Friends’ activity and levels of religious social capital. However, in contrast to the demands on cathedral congregants (among whom the original WRSCI was developed), there is no expectation that cathedral Friends will have regular face-to-face contact with fellow members; so, a measure of social networks in the association would complement the WRSCIM to provide a more complete picture of Friends’ religious social capital.     

Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis

A longitudinal analysis of panel data from users of a popular online social network site, Facebook, investigated the relationship between intensity of Facebook use, measures of psychological well-being, and bridging social capital. Two surveys conducted a year apart at a large U.S. university, complemented with in-depth interviews with 18 Facebook users, provide the study data. Intensity of Facebook use in year one strongly predicted bridging social capital outcomes in year two, even after controlling for measures of self-esteem and satisfaction with life. These latter psychological variables were also strongly associated with social capital outcomes. Self-esteem served to moderate the relationship between Facebook usage intensity and bridging social capital: those with lower self-esteem gained more from their use of Facebook in terms of bridging social capital than higher self-esteem participants. We suggest that Facebook affordances help reduce barriers that lower self-esteem students might experience in forming the kinds of large, heterogeneous networks that are sources of bridging social capital.     

Religious Congregations as Mediating Structures for Social Justice: a Multilevel Examination

Scholars in the field of community psychology have called for a closer examination of the mediating role that religious congregations serve in society, especially in relation to the promotion of social justice. The current study provides such an examination, offering a multilevel examination of religious individuals (n = 5,123) nested within religious congregations (n = 62) with a particular focus on how individual and congregational level variables (i.e. theological orientation, frequency of religious attendance, bonding and bridging social capital) predict individual prioritization of and participation in congregational social justice activities. Findings indicated that individual level theological orientation was associated with prioritization, and demographics and social capital bonding were associated with prioritization and participation. Furthermore, congregational bridging social capital was associated with the prioritization of justice, whereas congregational theological orientation moderated the associations between frequency of religious participation for both prioritization of and participation in congregational justice activities. These findings show that specific aspects of the congregational setting (i.e., congregational theological orientation) are important to the individual prioritization of and participation in social justice activities. These findings provide support for the role of religious congregations as mediating structures for social justice. Implications for future research are also discussed.     

Measuring religious social capital: the scale properties of the Williams Religious Social Capital Index (WRSCI) among cathedral congregations

The theoretical construct of social capital remains contested in terms of conceptualisation and measurement. The present paper follows the convention of distinguishing between trust, bonding, bridging and linking social capital, to conceptualise how religious communities promote and develop social capital within a specifically religious cohort. Developing this construct of religious social capital further, this paper proposes a measure for use specifically among religious communities to assess individual‐level social capital. The Williams Religious Social Capital Index (WRSCI) provides a unidimensional construct of religious social capital taking into consideration the four elements highlighted. A sample of 720 members of six cathedral congregations in England and Wales completed a battery of items concerning social capital. Factor analysis procedures produced a 12‐item index of religious social capital. Reliability analyses demonstrated that this index achieved satisfactory levels of internal reliability consistency. Construct validity was supported by the clear association between frequency of attendance and levels of assessed religious social capital.     

Close Social Ties,Socioeconomic Diversity and Social Capital in US Congregations

This paper explores how various types of in-church close social ties of worshipers, socio-economic homogeneity of congregations and sociodemographic characteristics of their geographical locations affect worshipers’ bonding social capital (church-related volunteer participation) and bridging social capital (civic participation outside of church), by using the 2001 USCLS data. Close-social ties index determines various combinations of attending with close friends, children, and/or spouse. Congregational homogeneity levels are measured by looking at the race, income, age and education of churchgoers. Neighborhood-level sociodemographic characteristics include percentages of urban population and the proportion of racial minorities. Findings indicate that each type and composition of close social ties affect bonding and bridging social capital in different ways. Bonding social capital is the highest when worshipers attend together with their spouses, children and close friends. Bridging social capital is the highest when they attend with both spouses and close friends, but it starts to decline after the inclusion of children as the third type of tie. Race and income homogeneity foster church-related participation. Age and education homogeneity negatively affects church-related volunteerism but fosters civic participation outside. Only bonding social capital is affected by neighborhood-level factors. Higher proportions of racial minorities in neighborhoods increase church-related participation.     

Making Big Communities Small: Using Network Science to Understand the Ecological and Behavioral Requirements for Community Social Capital

The concept of social capital is becoming increasingly common in community psychology and elsewhere. However, the multiple conceptual and operational definitions of social capital challenge its utility as a theoretical tool. The goals of this paper are to clarify two forms of social capital (bridging and bonding), explicitly link them to the structural characteristics of small world networks, and explore the behavioral and ecological prerequisites of its formation. First, I use the tools of network science and specifically the concept of small‐world networks to clarify what patterns of social relationships are likely to facilitate social capital formation. Second, I use an agent‐based model to explore how different ecological characteristics (diversity and segregation) and behavioral tendencies (homophily and proximity) impact communities’ potential for developing social capital. The results suggest diverse communities have the greatest potential to develop community social capital, and that segregation moderates the effects that the behavioral tendencies of homophily and proximity have on community social capital. The discussion highlights how these findings provide community‐based researchers with both a deeper understanding of the contextual constraints with which they must contend, and a useful tool for targeting their efforts in communities with the greatest need or greatest potential.     

Capital social et vie associative de quartier en contexte multiethnique: Quelques réflexion à partir de recherches Montréalaises

This article employs the dichotomy between bonding and binding social capital put forward by Robert Putnam to query some of the assumptions underlying calls to use social capital as a public policy tool in the immigration field: Drawing on this concept to revisit a series of studies on associational life in Montreal’s multiethnic neighborhoods, the author highlights the importance of the immigrant’s role in neighborhood associational life as well as the malaise provoked by certain immigrant associational networks—expressions of bonding social capital—among local, municipal, and community bodies. Not all types of immigrant social capital are equally valued at the local level.     

In-Group and Out-Group Networks,Informal Social Activities,and Electoral Participation Among Immigrants in South Korea

With increasing global migration, immigrant incorporation and assimilation have become a growing concern. Prior research has mostly focused on economic adaptation of immigrants in North American and European context. This study shifts the focus to political incorporation of foreign-born spouses and other naturalized citizens living in South Korea, a topic that has received very little attention. Its primary goal is to examine the relationship between bridging and bonding social capital, measured in terms of interpersonal networks and informal social activities, and formal political participation, i.e., voting. Data come from the National Survey of Multicultural Families (2012), the largest and most up-to-date government-funded research project on Korea’s burgeoning immigrant population. Using multilevel analysis, this study shows that ties to inter-ethnic contacts (native Koreans) and greater involvement in informal social life are associated with higher odds of voting among immigrants. Greater embeddedness in in-group or co-ethnic networks, on the other hand, is associated with lower odds of voting participation. Moreover, net of individual-level network and background factors, living in a community with a higher level of social activities, is related to greater electoral participation.     

Which is More Relevant for Perceived Happiness,Individual-Level or Area-Level Social Capital? A Multilevel Mediation Analysis

A growing number of studies have addressed how social capital is closely related to an individual’s perceived happiness. However, most happiness studies have focused on individual-level social capital, which is based on an individual’s subjective assessment of social capital gathered from social surveys. Considering that social capital was originally a collective concept, this study distinguished individual- and area-level aspects of social capital and their relationships in terms of their associations with perceived happiness. To this end, we employed multilevel mediation analysis using cross-sectional microdata from a nationwide Internet survey conducted in Japan (N = 9523). We focused on four types of social capital: trust in neighbors, contacts with neighbors, bonding, and bridging. Based on the estimation results, we first confirmed that social capital at both the individual and area levels had a positive association with perceived happiness when using them separately as an independent variable. Second, we found that a substantial portion of the effect of area-level social capital on perceived happiness was mediated by individual-level social capital. This suggests that an individual’s commitment to area-level social capital is required if a large portion of its potential benefits on perceived happiness are to materialize. Furthermore, we observed that the effects of area-level bonding and bridging on their individual-level measures were affected by several individual-level attributes, including personality traits. Overall, the results underscore the need for further investigation into the association between perceived happiness and social capital at different levels.     

Transforming Individual Civic Engagement into Community Collective Efficacy: The Role of Bonding Social Capital

Collective efficacy is defined as residents’ perceived collective capacity to take coordinated and interdependent action on issues that affect their lives. This study explored factors associated with neighborhood collective efficacy among residents. Utilizing a national sample of 4,120 urban households provided by Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Making Connection Initiative, we investigated the mediating role of residents’ perceptions of bonding social capital (i.e. reciprocity, trust, and shared norms) in the association between civic engagement and collective efficacy. Multiple regression analyses revealed that civic engagement and bonding social capital were both directly related to collective efficacy. Additionally, bonding social capital partially mediated the relationship between civic engagement and collective efficacy. Specifically, residents who reported greater levels of civic engagement also reported higher levels of bonding social capital. In turn, residents who reported higher levels of bonding social capital also reported higher levels of neighborhood collective efficacy. We discuss implications of these findings for researchers and practitioners interested in associations of neighborhood collective efficacy.     

Religion, social capital, and “The day that changed the world”

In this article, I examine a variety of Canadian and international events (including the events of September 11, 2001) in an attempt to elucidate the links between religion and social capital. I focus on the kind of “bonding” social capital related to exclusive and “fundamentalist” forms of modern religiosity. I also address the issue of how policy-makers and other community leaders might respond more effectively to the problematic and complex forms religion sometimes takes in Canadian and international society. I show that there is an intimate relationship between religious violence-that is, bonding capital gone wrong—and the relatively new Canadian tradition of ignoring, marginalizing, and misrepresenting religion.     

Lay definitions of family and social capital in later life

This study explores the lay definitions of family in old age and their consequences for social capital in using an egocentric network approach. Data were derived from a subsample of 578 elders (aged 65 and older) from the Vivre/Leben/Vivere (VLV) study, a large survey addressing family life and health conditions of older people in Switzerland. A hierarchical cluster analysis was performed to create a typology of family networks based on family members who were cited as significant. We identified six family networks: Conjugal, Son, Daughter, Sibling, Kinship, and Sparse. These feature bonding and bridging social capital unequally. Therefore, one should take into account the lay definitions of family to better understand social capital within families in later life.