Low Social Capital Research Articles

Citizenship Rights and Voluntary Decision Making in Post-Disaster U.S. Floodplain Buyout Mitigation Programs

Since the 1990s, the United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has promoted voluntary “buyout” programs to relocate property owners out of floodplains. In this paper we evaluate perceived voluntariness of these initiatives. We use local mitigation official interviews and property owner surveys conducted in four post-disaster buyout program sites. We show that there is considerable variability in property-owner's experience of buyout programs and their sense of voluntariness, despite high buyout acceptance rates. We find that the paradox facing program managers is that buyout participants perceive the process to be less voluntary compared to those who did not accept the offer. Because local mitigation officials simultaneously act in the interest of the government while working with flooded property owners, voluntariness is not guaranteed. Low social capital of flood victims tends to lead to situations where buyouts are successfully expedited during post-crisis, temporal “windows of opportunity” and local perceptions of voluntariness are compromised.

Social determinants of health – A question of social or economic capital? Interaction effects of socioeconomic factors on health outcomes

Social structures and socioeconomic patterns are the major determinants of population health. However, very few previous studies have simultaneously analysed the “social” and the “economic” indicators when addressing social determinants of health. We focus on the relevance of economic and social capital as health determinants by analysing various indicators. The aim of this paper was to analyse independent associations, and interactions, of lack of economic capital (economic hardships) and social capital (social participation, interpersonal and political/institutional trust) on various health outcomes. Data was derived from the 2009 Swedish National Survey of Public Health, based on a randomly selected representative sample of 23,153 men and 28,261 women aged 16–84 year, with a participation rate of 53.8%. Economic hardships were measured by a combined economic hardships measure including low household income, inability to meet expenses and lacking cash reserves. Social capital was measured by social participation, interpersonal (horizontal) trust and political (vertical/institutional trust) trust in parliament. Health outcomes included; (i) self-rated health, (i) psychological distress (GHQ-12) and (iii) musculoskeletal disorders. Results from multivariate logistic regression show that both measures of economic capital and low social capital were significantly associated with poor health status, with only a few exceptions. Significant interactive effects measured as synergy index were observed between economic hardships and all various types of social capital. The synergy indices ranged from 1.4 to 2.3. The present study adds to the evidence that both economic hardships and social capital contribute to a range of different health outcomes. Furthermore, when combined they potentiate the risk of poor health.

Effective components on social capital in rural production cooperatives in Koohdasht County of Lorestan Province

This paper aimed to study the social capital in rural production cooperatives and to analyze factors influencing this capital. The statistical population of the study consisted of 2820 members of 18 rural production cooperatives of Koohdasht County in Lorestan province, 93 of whom were selected using Cochran formula as sample population. In order to increase the accuracy of the data, 100 members were selected by the two-stage random sampling technique, and were interviewed. The reliability of the main scales of the questionnaire was confirmed by Cronbach's alpha coefficients being above 0.70. The questionnaire was validated through getting the comments and opinions of some faculty members and cooperative experts. The results of the study showed that there is a significant difference between the two groups with high and low social capital in terms of gender, marital status, education, income level, the size of owned land, membership record in a cooperative, amount of information about cooperative principals, and the rate of participation in productive activities, decision-making meetings and the training courses held by the cooperatives. Moreover, according to the results of stepwise discriminant analysis, five variables of marital status, the size of owned land, membership record in a cooperative, familiarity with cooperative principals and the rate of participation in productive activities, distinctively discriminated between the two groups with high and low social capital. Key words: Rural production cooperative, social capital, discriminant analysis, Koohdasht County, Lorestan Province, Iran.

Measuring aspects of social capital in a gerontological perspective.

Within the last 10years, there has been a growing interest in the importance of social capital and older people. The aims of the study are to advance measurements of aspects of social capital based on bonding, bridging and linking that can be used to study the impact of the local community on community-dwelling older populations and to study the distribution of these three measurements of social capital in 34 municipalities. Data are from a Danish prospective cohort study on preventive home visits among 4,034 old people 75+ in 34 municipalities in Denmark. The measurements of aspects of social capital at community level are based on theory of bonding, bridging and linking social capital. It has been possible to analyse variations in the three measurements of social capital in the 34 municipalities and to characterize different municipalities according to high versus low social capital. There are interesting patterns in distribution of the three measurements. The two extreme groups of municipalities (high and low social capital) differ with regard to demography, social and structural conditions in the municipalities. We believe that the proposed measures of social capital will be relevant in future studies of social capital and health in older populations, since they are theoretically based and cover different aspects of social capital related to older people and their local community.

An exploratory investigation of the investment information search behavior of individual domestic investors

This paper investigates the information search behavior of individual investors, particularly the roles played by online and offline social networks, and from the perspective of social capital and technology readiness. The paper uses rough sets analysis as the analytical tool. This study shows that despite the popularity of social network websites, the social capital of online community is still low when compared to the offline community. Hence, online communities play a less limited role in investment informational social support. Furthermore, investors with low social capital are often characterized by more intense reliance within narrow subgroups for investment information. Investors, especially those with high-investment risk profile, are truly hybrid information consumers. Investors who are innovative in technology and transact online are likely to be the users of online sources. Young investors are more likely to seek advice from online friends. The interaction effect among investment information sources is explicitly displayed via the rough sets decision rules.

Assessing the association between all-cause mortality and multiple aspects of individual social capital among the older Japanese

BackgroundFew prospective cohort studies have assessed the association between social capital and mortality. The studies were conducted only in Western countries and did not use the same social capital indicators. The present prospective cohort study aimed to examine the relationships between various forms of individual social capital and all-cause mortality in Japan.MethodsSelf-administered questionnaires were mailed to subjects in the Aichi Gerontological Evaluation Study (AGES) Project in 2003. Mortality data from 2003 to 2008 were analyzed for 14,668 respondents. Both cognitive and structural components of individual social capital were collected: 8 for cognitive social capital (trust, 3; social support, 3; reciprocity, 2) and 9 for structural social capital (social network). Cox proportional hazard models stratified by sex with multiple imputation were used. Age, body mass index, self-rated health, current illness, smoking history, alcohol consumption, exercise, equivalent income and education were used as covariates.ResultsDuring 27,571 person-years of follow-up for men and 29,561 person-years of follow-up for women, 790 deaths in men and 424 in women were observed. In the univariate analyses for men, lower social capital was significantly related to higher mortality in one general trust variable, all generalised reciprocity variables and four social network variables. For women, lower social capital was significantly related to higher mortality in all generalised reciprocity and four social network variables. After adjusting for covariates, lower friendship network was significantly associated with higher all-cause mortality among men (meet friends rarely; HR = 1.30, 95%CI = 1.10-1.53) and women (having no friends; HR = 1.81, 95%CI = 1.02-3.23). Among women, lower general trust was significantly related to lower mortality (most people cannot be trusted; HR = 0.65, 95%CI = 0.45-0.96).ConclusionsFriendship network was a good predictor for all-cause mortality among older Japanese. In contrast, mistrust was associated with lower mortality among women. Studies with social capital indices considering different culture backgrounds are needed.

Food Insecurity is Associated With Social Capital, Perceived Personal Disparity, and Partnership Status Among Older and Senior Adults in a Largely Rural Area of Central Texas

This study examined the association of compositional measures of collective social functioning, composed of community and familial social capital and perceived personal disparity, with food security among older (aged 50–59 y) and senior (aged ≥ 60 y) adult residents of the largely rural Brazos Valley in Central Texas using data from the 2006 Brazos Valley Community Health Assessment (analytic N = 1059, 74% response rate). Among older adults and seniors, 18.6% reported food insecurity (5.5% often and 13.1% sometimes), defined as running out of food and not having money to buy more. Low community social capital was reported by 22.4% of participants, and 30.8% indicated they were single, widowed, or divorced, an indicator of limited familial social capital. A robust multinomial regression model found the odds of reporting greater food insecurity increased for individuals who were women, African American, residents of a household with a low or poverty-level income, individuals who perceived themselves to be worse off than others within their community, and those who had low social capital. The odds of being food insecure decreased for older respondents, partnered respondents and persons with more education (pseudo r2 = 0.27, p < 0.0000). Compositional level measures of collective social functioning are important associates of food insecurity among older adults and seniors, regardless of severity.

Math and Science Academic Success in Three Large, Diverse, Urban High Schools: A Teachers' Story

Large, traditional urban high schools are among the most difficult education environments in the United States. These schools, which serve a high percentage of the Black and Latino students in the United States, often have low academic performance, high dropout rates, high teacher and school leader turnover, and inexperienced teachers. They often exist within contexts of high poverty, high family mobility, high unemployment, and low social capital. However, because they serve such a high percentage of students nationally, academic success at these schools is an equity issue with major national economic and social wellbeing implications. As a result, there have been many efforts to reform these urban high schools or whole urban districts. Despite some exceptions, particularly in small schools that serve a small percentage of students, the success of these reforms has been limited. This is the report of a qualitative study of teachers', school leaders', and students' perceptions of three large, traditional urban Texas high schools that were exhibiting the most success in math and science when compared to similar large, traditional urban Texas high schools after statistically controlling for the challenges each school faced. The 3 themes that emerged to describe the similarities among these three schools were leadership, equity orientation, and instructional focus. However, the highlight of the results was long lasting, stable teachers' professional communities composed of diverse, experienced teachers with particularly strong equity orientations.

Food insecurity, social capital and perceived personal disparity in a predominantly rural region of Texas: An individual-level analysis

Few studies have addressed the association of food insecurity with place of residence and perceptions of collective social functioning such as perceived social capital and perceived personal disparity. This study assessed the association between food insecurity and measures of perceived personal disparity and perceived social capital in a region of Central Texas, USA comprised of one urban and six rural counties. Food insecurity, perceived social capital, perceived personal disparity, and sociodemographic control measures were derived from the 2006 Brazos Valley Community Health Assessment on an analytic sample of 1803 adult participants (74% response rate). Robust multinomial regression models examined associations between food insecurity and perceived personal disparity, perceived social capital, education, age, residence in a poor or low-income household, minority group membership, and rural residence. A model was estimated for food insecurity ( n = 1803, p < 0.0001). Residents with low social capital, higher levels of perceived personal disparity, rural residence, residence in a low-income or poor household, minority group membership, and lower levels of educational attainment were more likely to experience food insecurity. Rural residence ( p = 0.021) was significant only for the comparison between those who never, and those who often experienced food insecurity, and findings for the stratified rural and urban samples were roughly equivalent to the combined sample. Individual level measures of collective social functioning are important correlates of food insecurity. In this study, both perceived personal disparity and perceived social capital play an important role, regardless of rural or urban residence.

Getting Wired@Collingwood: an ICT project underpinned by action research

There is increasing evidence that the lack of access to information and communication technology (ICT), or the ‘digital divide’, severely limits education, employment and economic prospects. An individual's ability to use and access computers and the internet is vital to schooling and education generally, to their ability to participate effectively in the economy, and in many cases, to access everyday services. This paper utilizes the context of an innovative ICT project in the heart of Melbourne to discuss the challenges of partnering disadvantaged communities both in project development and in this evaluation of case project. The efficacy of the project, though not under discussion, was important because it provided the evaluation with a credible vehicle in which to establish community discussion with people from a diverse range of age groups and backgrounds. Their engagement was essential not only to the research but to the overall success of the project. In a community with very low social capital, engagement in a community project takes time, commitment and good community development practice. The paper describes the process of the research in this community, reminding us that community goals can only be met if we engage the stakeholders in enacting community change.

Social Capital and the Equilibrium Number of Entrepreneurs

This paper combines the theories on social capital and occupational choices to explain how social capital that saves on transaction costs and scale economies of skills in the production technology, determine the relative specialization between entrepreneurs-managers and markets in governing collaboration in production and exchange. The main hypothesis formulated in the paper is that higher social capital benefits the managerial hierarchy relatively more than the market as governance mechanisms, and therefore in economies with higher social capital the equilibrium number of entrepreneurs will be lower and their average span of control larger than in economies with lower social capital. The empirical evidence, with data from the Spanish Autonomous Communities (AACC), is consistent with this prediction.

Violência urbana e capital social em uma cidade no Sul do Brasil: um estudo quantitativo e qualitativo

to study the relationship between reported urban violence and social capital in a medium-sized city in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. the study was carried out with adults living in the urban area of São Leopoldo. For the quantitative analysis, a structured questionnaire was answered by 1 100 individuals older than 20 years of age and in charge of the household at the moment of the interview. Violence was evaluated based on the reports of violent arguments, theft or robbery, drug-related events, and homicides in the neighborhood over the previous six months. Social capital was defined based on the reported degree of trust among neighbors, informal social control, opinions on the actions of government and politicians, and social action in the neighborhoods. For the qualitative analysis, 11 participants residing in the area with the lowest or with the highest social capital answered a semi-structured interview. people living in low-trust neighborhoods reported higher rates of homicide (OR = 2.82; 95%CI: 1.67-4.74; P > 0.001) and violent arguments (OR = 2.56; 95%CI: 1.82-3.59; P > 0.001) than people living in high-trust neighborhoods. Violent situations were reported most often in neighborhoods with low social capital, in which a lack of government attention was also reported. in neighborhoods with the highest social capital, the prevalence of reported violence was lower. Priority should be given to public policies that promote social capital for the common good.

Group Status, Minorities and Trust

We present the results of an experiment that attempts to measure the impact of majority and minority groups, and high status and low status groups, on well-being, cooperation and social capital. In the experiment, group membership is induced artificially, subjects interact with insiders and outsiders in trust games and periodically enter markets where they can trade group membership. We find that trust falls with groups because of discrimination against outsiders. Against this, however, there is evidence that low group status and minority subjects are less satisfied, and that low status subjects trust less other low status subjects.

Local social capital and geographical mobility

In the North of Europe, club membership is higher than in the South, but the frequency of contacts with friends, relatives and neighbors is lower. We link this fact to another one: the low geographical mobility rates in the South of Europe relative to the North. To interpret these facts, we build a model of local social capital and mobility. Investing in local ties is rational when workers do not expect to move to another region. We find that observationally close individuals may take different paths characterized by high local social capital, low mobility and high unemployment, vs. low social capital, high propensity to move and higher employment probability. Employment protection reinforces the accumulation of local social capital and thus reduces mobility. European data supports the theory: within a country and at the individual level, more social capital is associated with lower mobility.

Family Firms and Investments

Family firms are a widespread control structure in most countries, especially among smaller firms. A vast literature addresses the question of whether they are performing better or worse than comparable non family firms, with not entirely conclusive results. Here we take a different, indirect approach and test whether investment decisions in family firms are more sensitive to uncertainty than in other firms. By using a novel dataset that includess both a better definition of family firms than commonly used (through self evaluation) and a very good proxy of the uncertainty on future demand that firms face, we are able to verify that – as compared to other firms – family firms are significantly more sensitive to uncertainty: this might contribute to explain why in some situations they perform better, whereas in others they do worse. We find evidence that this greater sensitivity to uncertainty in family firms is basically due to the effects of risk aversion and capital irreversibility, where the latter appear to be associated to a greater opaqueness of family firms rather than to the degree of sunkness of fixed capital. Finally, we propose some evidence that the prevalence of family firms in Italy might be associated to long standing institutional factors, such as an inefficient law enforcement system and a low social capital.

Migrants at School: Educational Inequality and Social Interaction in the UK and Germany

We test potential social costs of educational inequality by analysing the influence of spatial and social segregation on educational achievements. In particular, based on recent PISA data sets from the UK and Germany, we investigate whether good neighbourhoods with a relatively high stock of social capital lead to larger 'social multipliers' than neighbourhoods with low social capital. Estimated 'social multipliers' are higher for the German early tracking schooling system than for comprehensive schools in the UK. After aggregating data and employing the Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition, the results suggest that the educational gap between natives and migrants is mainly due to the 'endowment effect' provided by the socioeconomic background of parents and cultural capital at home. Some adverse 'integration effects' do exist for female migrants in Germany who lose ground on other groups.

Work‐place social capital and smoking cessation: the Finnish Public Sector Study

To examine whether high social capital at work is associated with an increased likelihood of smoking cessation in baseline smokers. Prospective cohort study. Finland. A total of 4853 employees who reported to be smokers in the baseline survey in 2000-2002 (response rate 68%) and responded to a follow-up survey on smoking status in 2004-2005 (response rate 77%). Work-place social capital was assessed using a validated and psychometrically tested eight-item measure. Control variables included sex, age, socio-economic position, marital status, place of work, heavy drinking, physical activity, body mass index and physician-diagnosed depression. In multi-level logistic regression models adjusted for all the covariates, the odds for being a non-smoker at follow-up were 1.26 [95% confidence interval (CI)=1.03-1.55] times higher for baseline smokers who reported high individual-level social capital than for their counterparts with low social capital. In an analysis stratified by socio-economic position, a significant association between individual-level social capital and smoking cessation was observed in the high socio-economic group [odds ratio (OR) (95% CI)=1.63 (1.01-2.63)], but not in intermediate [(OR=1.10 (0.83-1.47)] or low socio-economic groups [(OR=1.28 (0.86-1.91)]. Work unit-level social capital was not associated with smoking cessation. If the observed associations are causal, these findings suggest that high perceived social capital at work may facilitate smoking cessation among smokers in higher-status jobs.

Commentary: Comments on the diversity in associations between community social capital and health

The paper on ‘The diversity of associations between community social capital and health’ raises two issues that I should like to address briefly. 1 The first has to do with the definition of social capital used by the authors. With the exception of one question—‘to what extent are you involved in the livability of your neighborhood?’—none gets at the phenomenon of civic participation that is central to Putnam’s concept of social capital (http://www.bowlingalone.com/data. htm.). Indeed, almost half the indicators that go into his composite measure of social capital have to do with the pervasiveness of voluntary associations. Nor do any of the measures deal directly with trust, which is another key part of his concept. On the other hand, several of the items in Putnam’s Index of Social Capital have to do with informal sociability (e.g. amount of time spent visiting with friends), which is more nearly akin to the items in the inventory used by van Hooijdonk and colleagues. Despite the differences from the measure of social capital that Putnam has created, there is an intuitive sense that the authors are measuring something meaningful with these questions. That something may be a sense of cohesion or community, which may or may not be associated with civic mindedness, but which is conceptually close to what many writers seem to be getting at when they invoke social capital as somehow causally associated with mortality. This sense of community refers to the local neighbourhood, which is consistent with much that has been written about social capital, but it ignores the larger political and institutional context, which is also consistent with much of the literature. This consistency is important and in a sense unfortunate, because the larger context may in fact be an important part of the story. This brings me to the second issue I should like to address. Not all the associations between social capital and all-cause and cause-specific mortality are significant; for those that are significant and in the expected direction, the associations are weak; and at least one—deaths due to cerebrovascular disease—is significant but not in the expected direction. They are elevated in neighbourhoods with high social capital compared with those with low social capital. It may be that neighbourhoods are not the appropriate units of analysis, or that the measure of social capital is inadequate. Neither of these possibilities seems to me to be a satisfactory explanation of the insignificant, weak or inconsistent results. It seems to me, rather, that social capital does not matter, or does not matter very much, in The Netherlands, a small, relatively homogeneous and generous welfare state with universal entitlement to health and other benefits and services. Social capital may be relevant to health in settings that are largely devoid of universally available services, in places where personal networks must be mobilized to obtain services of all sorts. For example, in preliminary analyses of the association between Putnam’s Comprehensive Index of Social Capital and age adjusted mortality (http://wonder.cdc. gov/mortsql.html.) among the 48 contiguous US states (Table 1 and Figure 1), it is clear that the association is significant only in the southern states, those with what has been called a traditionalistic political culture, compared with the moralistic and/or individualistic

Social capital, political trust and experience of cannabis smoking: A population-based study in southern Sweden

Objective To investigate whether political mistrust in the Riksdag (the national parliament in Sweden) is an independent characteristic of cannabis smokers, or whether it reflects low confidence in people in general, and therefore low social capital. Method The 2004 public health survey in Skåne is a cross-sectional postal questionnaire study answered by 27,757 respondents aged 18–80 with a 59% response rate providing data on political trust, cannabis smoking, and potential confounders. Results 13.9% of the men and 8.3% of the women had smoked cannabis; 17.3% of the male and 11.6% of the female respondents reported no trust at all in the Riksdag, and another 38.2% and 36.2%, respectively, reported a moderate political trust. Young age, high education, unemployment, low generalized trust in other people, and lower levels of political trust were associated with cannabis smoking, even after multiple adjustments. The groups men with no trust at all in the Riksdag, and women with high trust, not particularly high political trust and no political trust at all had significantly higher odds ratios of cannabis smoking than the very high trust reference category. The results thus somewhat differed between men and women. Conclusion Low political trust is associated with cannabis smoking, independently of trust in people in general.

Associations between physical inactivity and a measure of social capital in a sample of Queensland adults

How social capital is related to an increasingly important disease risk-physical inactivity has not yet been investigated. In the present study the associations between social capital and physical inactivity were investigated in a sample of Queensland (Australia) adults. Data was collected from 1278 persons by means of a computer-assisted-telephone-interview survey. The association between the social capital variables and physical inactivity was studied using logistical regression. Multivariate analysis adjusted for the effects of selected socio-demographic factors in the investigation of the association between physical inactivity and quartile groupings of social capital scores. Physical inactivity was negatively associated with the measure of social capital. Individuals in the top two quartiles of social capital were significantly less likely to be physically inactive than those in the two lowest quartiles. In summary, low social capital was associated with physical inactivity. The results offer implications for health promotion programs aimed at increasing levels of physical activity at the community or population level.