Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India

Social capital is a resource, a propensity for mutually beneficial collective action that communities possess to different extents. Communities with high levels of social capital are able to act together collectively for achieving diverse common objectives. While the concept of social capital is val...

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Autor principal: Krishna, Anirudh
Formato: Artículo preliminar
Lenguaje:Inglés
Publicado: International Food Policy Research Institute 2003
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/10568/157390
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author Krishna, Anirudh
author_browse Krishna, Anirudh
author_facet Krishna, Anirudh
author_sort Krishna, Anirudh
collection Repository of Agricultural Research Outputs (CGSpace)
description Social capital is a resource, a propensity for mutually beneficial collective action that communities possess to different extents. Communities with high levels of social capital are able to act together collectively for achieving diverse common objectives. While the concept of social capital is valid universally, the measure of social capital will vary by context. It must be related in each case to aspects of social relations that assist mutually beneficial collective action within that particular cultural context. A locally relevant scale of social capital was developed to assess whether and how social capital mattered for development performance in 69 north Indian villages. Variables corresponding to other bodies of explanation, including extent of commercialization, relative stratification, and relative need were also examined, but a combination of high social capital and capable agency was found to associate most closely with high development performance. Agency is important particularly in situations where institutions are not available that enable citizens to connect with the state and with markets. The productivity of social capital is considerably reduced on account of this institutional gap in the middle. Development performance can be improved in these situations by adding to the stock of social capital and also through enhancing agency capacity.
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spelling CGSpace1573902025-01-10T06:42:36Z Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India Krishna, Anirudh social capital collective action social networks development capacity development poverty Social capital is a resource, a propensity for mutually beneficial collective action that communities possess to different extents. Communities with high levels of social capital are able to act together collectively for achieving diverse common objectives. While the concept of social capital is valid universally, the measure of social capital will vary by context. It must be related in each case to aspects of social relations that assist mutually beneficial collective action within that particular cultural context. A locally relevant scale of social capital was developed to assess whether and how social capital mattered for development performance in 69 north Indian villages. Variables corresponding to other bodies of explanation, including extent of commercialization, relative stratification, and relative need were also examined, but a combination of high social capital and capable agency was found to associate most closely with high development performance. Agency is important particularly in situations where institutions are not available that enable citizens to connect with the state and with markets. The productivity of social capital is considerably reduced on account of this institutional gap in the middle. Development performance can be improved in these situations by adding to the stock of social capital and also through enhancing agency capacity. 2003 2024-10-24T12:49:26Z 2024-10-24T12:49:26Z Working Paper https://hdl.handle.net/10568/157390 en Open Access application/pdf International Food Policy Research Institute Krishna, Anirudh. 2003. Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India. CAPRi working paper. 0028. https://hdl.handle.net/10568/157390
spellingShingle social capital
collective action
social networks
development
capacity development
poverty
Krishna, Anirudh
Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India
title Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India
title_full Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India
title_fullStr Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India
title_full_unstemmed Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India
title_short Understanding, measuring and utilizing social capital: clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from India
title_sort understanding measuring and utilizing social capital clarifying concepts and presenting a field application from india
topic social capital
collective action
social networks
development
capacity development
poverty
url https://hdl.handle.net/10568/157390
work_keys_str_mv AT krishnaanirudh understandingmeasuringandutilizingsocialcapitalclarifyingconceptsandpresentingafieldapplicationfromindia