15: SOCIAL CAPITAL AND THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY

Abstract

We explore the usefulness of the concept of social capital, which refers to an economy based on reciprocal relationships among people for planning and implementing organizational development at institutions of higher learning. Specifically, we use social capital and related concepts to analyze efforts to build community within three institutions of higher learning of very different types: a midsize private comprehensive college, a small, public liberal-arts college, and an online institution of higher learning serving adult learners. In addition to applying a five-part conceptual scheme to the assessment of social capital within these institutions, we identify significant opportunities for future research developing tools to measure social capital at institutions of higher learner measuring the effectiveness of efforts to increase social capital and to exploit that resource in professional and organizational development efforts. Running Head: SOCIAL CAPITAL AND THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY 3 Social Capital and the Campus Community Building community is important in higher education and concern with community is evident in discussions of student life (Kuh 2007), institutional well-being (Keeling 2004) and teaching and learning (Fink 2003). Community is also central in efforts to enhance faculty experience through faculty learning communities (Cox and Richlin 2004), and wider intellectual exchange (Carnegie). The study of social capital has been developed primarily in political science, economics, sociology, and community organizing. We submit that social capital is a valuable concept in exploring community in faculty development. Theorists, researchers, and practitioners describe attributes and characteristics of social capital, suggest strategies for increasing it in groups or individuals, and provide some ways to measure it. If we understand the role of social capital in faculty and organizational development, we may have more tools to build community on our campuses. We begin with a review of the literature on social capital, focusing on its use in planning and community development. We then identify key concepts and describe their application in each of our institutions. The final section suggests ways to investigate evidence of social capital and strategies for further use of the concept. Social capital describes a system like an economic system. If a financial economy is based on exchange of money and capital is accumulation of financial resources, social capital is based on relationships between and among people. The parallel to currency is the trust and shared norms of the relationships and the parallel to wealth is social Running Head: SOCIAL CAPITAL AND THE CAMPUS COMMUNITY 4 networks. Ivan Light illustrates the various uses of the metaphor of capital through this