Can Social Capital and Network Homophily Facilitate Community Participation?

Abstract

Social networks and social capital have been a central discussion point for academicians and policy makers alike since last few decades. Intersecting literature on networks and applied areas stresses upon homophily effect operating through social categories of gender, caste and occupation play a crucial role in individual behaviour across health and related networks in the society. On the other hand, literature talks of social capital playing a vital role for the individual and collective society in various spheres of their lives. This empirical research triangulates the theories of social capital, social networks and community participation to study the role of networks in community participation in the context of local governance in rural society. We use indicators such as household network size as proxy to social capital, attendance and vocal participation as proxy to community participation while using the popular network concepts of peer-effect and homophily effect through logit models to assess the role of network-based social capital in community participation.