A Theory of Social Capital as a Moderator of Urban Violence

Abstract

This chapter discusses a nonlinear theoretical framework to explain high violence in the barrios of Caracas. Zinecker’s (Gewalt im Frieden: Formen und Ursachen der Gewaltkriminalität in Zentralamerika, , 42–43) structural model of violence frames the theoretical model proposed in this chapter to explain high violence rates. Her structural model states that macrostructural variables can explain susceptibility to high violence rates, but only substructural variables, like social capital, can explain the actual appearance of high violence rates. Such theoretical framework helps explain why violence in the barrios of Caracas remained high while socioeconomic conditions improved. Hence, it helps to interpret why violence rates behaved pro-cyclically in Venezuela’s capital. In addition, this chapter reviews the critical shortcomings of competing theories of urban violence such as oil-rent windfalls, economic deprivation, and subcultural factors. Discussing these theoretical approaches to urban violence shows how the moderating role of social capital can help explain the “causes of causes” of urban violence. After that, this chapter elaborates on a theoretical model developed where social capital in the barrios of Caracas moderates violence rates in these urban spaces. The model developed in this chapter identifies and discusses two factors of social capital’s moderating effects: Social network density and collective efficacy. The former factor refers to the connectedness of an urban neighborhood, and the latter refers to two sub-factors, which are social disorganization and collective action within the institutional context.