Social capital - Dipartimento di Sociologia

Una nuova prospettiva:
focus sull’uso individuale del
capitale sociale
Corso di Laure Magistrale in
Sociologia
Nan Lin
Social capital
2
History and definition
• Social capital: investments in social relations with expected returns
in the marketplace.
• Bourdieu, 1980; 1983/1986; Lin, 1982; 1985a; Coleman, 1988; 1990;
Flap, 1991; 1994; Burt, 1992; Putnam, 1993; 1995a; Erikson, 1995;
1996; Portes, 1998.
• Individuals engage in interactions and networking in order to produce
profits.
• Social capital in the notion of the neo-capital theory: capital
captured through social relations. In this approach, capital is seen
as a social asset by virtue of actors' connections and
access to resources in the network or group in which they
are members.
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Why does social capital work?
•
Why embedded resources in social networks enhance the outcomes of actions?
•
1. The flow of information is facilitated. In the usual imperfect market situations, social ties
located in certain strategic locations and/or hierarchical position (and thus better informed
on market needs and demands);
•
2. These social ties can exert influence on the agents (e.g. recruiters or supervisors in the
organisations) who play a critical role in decisions (e.g. hiring or promotion) involving the actor.
Some social ties due to their strategic locations (structural holes) and positions (e.g. authority
or supervisory capacities)...;
•
3. Social ties conceived by organisations as certification of the individual's social credentials,
some of which reflect the individual's accessibility to resources through social networks and
relations - his or her social capital;
•
4. Social relations are expected to reinforce identity and recognition.
•
Another element, control, reflecting the network's location and hierarchical position, can be
considered central to the definition of social capital itself.
4
Two perpectives
•
Relative to the level at which return or profit is conceived:
•
A. Focus on the use of social capital by the individuals: how individuals access and use
resources embedded in social networks to gain returns in instrumental actions (e.g. finding better
jobs) or to preserve gains in expressive actions (similar to human capital?). Focal points for analysis:
1) how individuals invest in social relations; 2) how individuals capture the embedded resources in
the relations to generate a returns. (Lin, Flap), Burt: network locations represent and create
competing advantage. Locations that linked nodes and their occupants to information and other
resources unlikely to be accessible otherwise constitute valuable capital for the occupants at these
"structural hole" positions, and at other locations and for other occupants accessing them.
•
B) Focus on social capital at the group level: 1) how certain groups develop and maintain
social capital as a collective asset; 2) how such a collective asset enhances group members' life
chances. (Bourdieu, Coleman, Putnam).
•
There is converging consensus (Portes, Burt, Lin) that social capital, as a theorygenerating concept, should be conceived in the social network context: as resources
accessible through social ties that occupy strategic network locations (Burt) and/or
significant organisational positions (Lin).
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Operational definition
• Operationally, social capital can be defined as "the
resources embedded in social networks accessed
and used by actors for actions". Two important
components:
• 1) it represents resources embedded in social relations rather
than individuals (social embedded resources);
• 2) access and use of such resources reside with
actors (ego is cognitively aware of the presence of such
resources in her or his relations and networks and makes a
choice in evoking the particular resources).
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Controversies
•
1. Wether social capital is collective goods or individual goods (Portes
1998 critique). The difficulty arises when social capital is discussed as collective or
even public goods, along with trust, norms and other collective or public goods. What
has occurred in the literature is that some terms have become alternative or
substitutable terms or measurement. Divorced from its roots in individual interactions
and networking, social capital becomes merely another trendy term to employ or
deploy in the broad context of improving or building social integration and solidarity...I
will argue that social capital, as a relational asset, must be distinguished from collective
assets and goods such as culture, norms, trust, and so on;
•
2. Related to the focus on social capital's collective aspect is the assumed or
expected requirement that there is closure or density in social relations
and social networks.
•
3. Coleman " social capital is defined by its functions": tautology
•
Coleman question (1990): "wether social capital will come to be as useful a
quantitative concepts in social science as are the concepts of financial capital, physical
capital, and human capital remains to be seen".
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Resources, networks, hierarchy and homophily
• Social capital (definition): resources embedded in a social
structure that are accessed and/or mobilised for purposive actions.
• Three critical components: 1) resources; 2) being embedded in a
social structure; 3) action.
• Three tasks for the theory: 1) explaining how resources take on value
and how the valued resources are distributed in the society - the
structural embeddedness of resources; 2) showing how
individual actors, through interactions and social networks, become
differentially accessible to such structurally embedded resources - the
opportunity structure; 3) explaining how access to such social
resources can be mobilise for gains - the process of activation.
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Resources and their social allocation
•
Resources: material or symbolic goods.
•
Three principle assumed for valued resources:
•
1) in any human group or community, differential values are assigned
by consensus or influence to resource to signal their relative
significance;
•
2) all actors (individuals or collective group) will take actions to
promote their self-interest by maintaining and gaining valued
resources if such opportunities are available;
•
3) maintaining and gaining valued resources are the two primary
motives for action, with the former outweighing the latter.
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How resources are embedded in the
collectivity
•
A) The nature of a social structure: 1) a set of social units (positions) that possess
differential amounts of one or more types of valued resources (embeddedness of resources linked
to the social position: the occupant of a position may change, but the resources are attached to the
position) and that 2) are hierarchically related relative to authority (control of and access to
resources), 3) share certain rules and procedures in the use of the resources, and 4) are entrusted
to occupants (agents) who act on these rules and procedures. Four elements defining the social
macrostructure as a system of coordination for the maintenance and/or acquisition of one or more
types of valued resources for the collectivity.
•
B) The hierarchy in a social structure: the higher a position in the hierarchical structure, the
better information it provides of the structure's resources;
•
C) The pyramidal shape of the hierarchical structure: the higher the level in the command
chain, the fewer the number of positions and occupants;
•
D) Complex social structures and resource transactions: the principle of homophily
("like-me hypothesis"): "social interactions tend to take place among individuals with
similar lifestyles and socioeconomic characteristics".
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Azione vs struttura
• Risorse che sono radicate nella struttura sociale (Coleman:
risorse socio-strutturali), che sono accessibili tramite reti e
relazioni sociali (opportunità e vincoli: Elster) e della quali
se ne può quindi far uso (azione individuale e collettiva:
Weber) per perseguire i propri fini individuali e collettivi.
• Il dibattito su azione vs struttura nel processo di
capitalizzazione sociale, ovvero il processo mediante il quale le
risorse strutturali si trasformano in capitale sociale.
• La questione: la capitalizzazione sociale esprime un'azione finalizzata
(purposive action: Granovetter, Burt, Lin) da parte dell'attore o
riflette semplicemente l'opportunità strutturale (Bourdieu,
Coleman, Putnam) a disposizione dell'attore?
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Theory of social capital (postulates)
•
1. The structural postulate (pyramidal hierarchies): the higher the level in the
hierarchy, the greater the concentration of valued resources, the fewer the number of
positions, the greater the command of authority, and the smaller the number of occupants;
•
2. The interactions postulate (the homophily principle): the greater the similarity of
resources characteristics, the less efforts required in interaction;
•
3. The network postulate: in social networks, directly or indirectly interacting actors carry
varying types of resources (most of the resources are embedded in others...or are embedded
in structural positions each actor occupies or is in contact with);
•
4. The definition: these structurally embedded resources are social capital for the actors in
the network;
•
5. The action postulate: the actors are motivated to either maintain (expressive actions)
or gain (instrumental actions) their resources in social actions - purposive actions. Expressive
action is the primary form of action.
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Theory of social capital (propositions)
•
1. The social capital: the success of action is positively associated with social capital;
•
2. The strength of position: the better of position of origin, the more likely the actor will access and
use better social capital;
•
3. The strength of strong ties: the stronger the tie, the more likely the social capital accessed will
positively affect the success of expressive action;
•
4. The strength of weak ties: the weaker the tie, the more likely ego will have access to better social
capital for instrumental action;
•
5. The strength of location: the closer the individuals are to a bridge in a network, the better social
capital they will access for instrumental action;
•
6. The location by position: the strength of a location (in proximity to a bridge) for instrumental action
is contingent on the resource differential across the bridge;
•
7. The structural contingency: the networking (tie and location) effects are constrained by the
hierarchical structure for actors located near or at the top or bottom of the hierarchy.
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Ronald Burt
Brokerage and closure
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Informal relations
and social capital
•
Social capital: the advantage created by a person's location in a structure of relationships.
•
Crescita di importanza delle (maggiore dipendenza dalle) relazioni informali e discrezionali
dovuta all'indebolimento delle catene verticali delle relazioni di autorità (strutture a
matrice che costringono a rapportarsi a livelli superiori multipli e/o alle pressioni
orizzontali); lavoro sempre meno definito dai livelli superiori e sempre più negoziato tra
colleghi che non hanno autorità l'uno sull'altro).
•
When authority is unclear, people turn to friends and colleagues for support.
Accountability flows through the formal organisation of authority relations. All
else flows through the informal - advice, coordination, cooperation, friendship,
gossip, knowledge, trust. Formal relations are about who is to blame. Informal
relations are about who gets it done.
•
Informal relations have always been with us. They have always mattered. What
is new is the range of activities in which they matter, and the emerging clarity
we have about how they create advantage for certain people at the expense of
others.
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Il valore della posizione
•
Social capital explains how people do better because they are somehow
better connected with other people. Certain people are connected to
certain others, trusting certain others, obligated to support certain others,
depending on exchange with certain others.
•
One's position in the structure of these exchanges can be an asset in its
own right. That asset is social capital, in essence, a concept of location
effects in differentiated markets.
•
Ripresa da Bourdieu (SC risorse derivanti dalla struttura sociale) e da Coleman (SC
una funzione della struttura sociale che produce vantaggi) e da Putnam (SC come
fiducia, norme e reti che migliorano l'efficienza della società in quanto facilitano
l'azione di coordinamento.
•
Tutti e tre concordano sulla metafora del capitale sociale, secondo la quale la struttura
sociale definisce un tipo di capitale che per individui o gruppi può creare un vantaggio
nel perseguire i propri fini.
•
People and groups who do well are somehow better connected.
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Social focus
• Il valore di una relazione non è definito nell'ambito della relazione (e
neppure dal volume di relazioni...) ma dal contesto sociale in cui è inserita
• Social focus: fattore di aggregazione delle persone in un'attività con il
risultato (atteso o meno) di facilitare le relazioni tra le persone (Feld):
omofilia (amici di scuola; occupazione; livello di reddito; regione
geografica; attività economica; organizzazione; divisioni; prodotti o team).
Anche tempo (stessi turni di lavoro...). Small world structure.
• Le persone si specializzano nell'ambito del proprio cluster (a più alta
densità di relazioni: tavole di densità; con ridondanza di
informazioni) e si integrano grazie ai "ponti" tra i cluster.
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Structural holes
•
Gaps between clusters (fig. 1.1) are holes in the structure of
information flow (non significa che le persone all'interno dei rispettivi
gruppi non siano consapevoli dell'esistenza di altri gruppi, solo che sono
concentrati sulle loro proprie attività e non possono dedicare attenzione a
quelle degli altri gruppi)
•
Il valore potenziale dei buchi strutturali risiede nella loro capacità di
separare le fonti non ridondanti di informazione, cioè le fontI che sono
aggiuntive e non overlapping.
•
A bridge is a (strong or weak) relationship that spans a structural
hole.
•
A working definition of structural hole: the relationship between
two people is a hole-spanning bridge when there is no effective
indirect connection between the people.
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Brokerage
•
Un buco strutturale costituisce un contesto di potenziale valore per l'azione;
•
Brokerage: the action of coordinating across the hole with bridges between people on
the opposite sides of the hole;
•
Brokers: the network entrepreneurs, the people who build the bridges.
•
The social capital of structural holes comes from the opportunities that
holes provide to broker the flow of information between people, and shape
the projects that bring together people from opposite sides of the hole.
•
Letteratura: da Simmel (tertium gaudens) e Merton a Granovetter (legami deboli).
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Indici, criteri e misure
• Criteri di network che definiscono un cluster sociale:
coesione (un insieme di persone connesse quali un gruppo
di progetto di una grande organizzazione); equivalenza
strutturale (un gruppo di persone che hanno relazioni simili
con gruppi esterni, quali una categoria funzionale in
un'impresa o un'attività nell'economia).
• Tavole di densità (fig. 1.1)
• Network constraint (index C): misura di concentrazione
che varia da 0 a100, ovvero quando tutto il tempo e le energie
di network di una persona sono dedicate ad un solo contatto;
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Quattro fatti stilizzati
•
The first two facts describe the mechanism and returns to network
brokerage, which is about the value of increasing variation in a group.
•
Informal relations form a small world of dense clusters separated by structural holes
(fig. 1.1). People whose networks bridge the holes are brokers rewarded for their
integrative work, rewarded in the sense of more positive individual and team
evaluation, compensation higher tan peers, and faster promotions (fig. 1.8).
•
Stylized fact #1: brokers do better. La performance migliora grazie all'azione di
brokeraggio, soprattutto ad alti livelli (cioè con minore network constraint).
•
Stylized fact #2: improved vision ("vision advantage") is the mechanism
responsible for the returns to brokerage. (Le informazioni sono più omogenee tra i
broker, che sono più orientati alla creatività e alla ricerca di soluzioni per
implementare buone idee, fig. 2.3). (Creativity and learning). Idee contagiose
(discussione critica; opinion leaders e brokerage) e adaptive implementation: social
skills!).
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Quattro fatti stilizzati: network closure
•
The third and forth facts describe the mechanism and returns to
network closure, which is about the value of decreasing variation
in a group.
•
Social capital defined by mixtures of brokerage and closure.
•
Stylized fact #3: performance is highest for closure within a group
combined with brokerage beyond the group.
•
Fiducia necessaria per realizzare il valore relativo al ponte creato sul buco
strutturale e la chiusura del network necessaria per assicurare tale fiducia.
"The more closed the network, the more likely that misbehavior
will be detected and punished."
•
Closure: porre una persona sotto controllo per ridurre il rischio fiducia.
Reputation è l'ingrediente attivo di tale controllo.
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Quattro fatti stilizzati: reputazione
•
Reputations are defined by people monitoring and discussing individual behaviour, and by so
doing, mutual friends and colleagues constitute an adaptive control on behaviour.
•
Meccanismo della reputazione: mediante il quale la chiusura abbassa il rischio fiducia. Dove la
fiducia è un vantaggio, la chiusura è capitale sociale.
•
Bandwidth hypothesis: extends reputations to the surrounding network of friends, colleagues
and acquaintances. Two people embedded in a network of interconnected mutual friends and
colleagues are more likely to trust one another.
•
Echo hypothesis: gossip responsible for echo effects, shared stories, reputation entrepreneurs,
(etiquette), conversation tone, reinforced predispositions. A more insidious form of control, making
closure more powerful (teorema di Thomas: "if men define situations as real, they are real in their
consequences"), Merton: self-fulfilling prophecy.
•
stylized fact #4: closure's reputation mechanism reinforces the status quo. Closure
reinforces network structure, amplifying relations to extremes of trust and distrust, and slowing
decay in new relations.
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Lin, Fu, Chen: “Social capital in
comparative perspective” (2014)
•
Social capital as a significant and global research enterprise in social science;
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Social capital: resources embedded in social relations and social networks;
•
Theory of social capital: focuses on the access to and mobilization of resources
embedded in social relations and social networks;
•
Research to explore: factors affecting access and mobilization; development of
standardized measurements for access (the name or position generator
techniques) and mobilization (contact status); their differential consequences;
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Comparative perspective: macroinstitutional dynamics affecting the access and
mobilization of resources embedded in social networks and social relations
(political economic regimes: command versus market; cultural factors: family
centrality versus diverse social ties); and overtime.
Lin, Lee, Ao: “Contact Status and Finding a Job.
Validation and Extension” (2014)
•
The long tradition of research on the use of social relations and resources
embedded in social relations (social capital) in the labor market (Granovetter)
•
A major focus has been the utility of “contacts” in job searches: evidence over four
decades, two general findings:
– The mere use of contacts in the job search does not show any advantage in job attainment
(e.g, occupational status or income);
– Among those who use contacts, contact status as a measure of social capital has consistently
shown some advantage in obtaining better jobs, after controlling for education and other
relevant demographic variables.
Contact status maybe spurious in its effect in part because of occupational homophily (similarity
of occupations between the job seeker and the contact)
Theoretically, the matching should be between the contact’s occupation and the job seeker’s
previous occupation
Ao: “Homophily and Heterophily in the PositionGenerated Networks in the U:S. and China” (2014)
•
•
The strength of tendencies toward homophily or inbreeding for the formation of
in-group ties;
The extent of heterophily or social distance differentiation for the formation of
out-group ties;
•
Tarde: “Social relations, I repeat, are much closer between individuals who
resemble each other in occupation and education” (1903);
•
Lazarsfeld and Merton: “a tendency for friendships to form between those who
differ in some designed respect” (1954). Two types of homophily:
– Status homophily: major socio-demographic dimensions (ascribed characteristics:
race/ethnicity, sex, age; acquired characteristics: religion, education, occupation or behavior
patterns)
– Values homophily: the wide variety of internal states presumed to shape our orientation
toward future behavior.
•
•
Degree of homophily: varies different characteristics
Extent of homophily: varies for each respondent
Ao: “Homophily and Heterophily in the PositionGenerated Networks in the U:S. and China” (2014)
• The task of identifying networks members is not as simple as asking
respondents, “Who do you know?”
• The existing approaches impose different constraints on the number
of ties, content of ties, intimacy with ties, geographical location and
time frame in which ties are evocated.
• Among the exiting techniques, two have been consistently
constructed and extensively used in past studies: the namegenerator and the position-generator techniques;
• To date, no studies have directly examined the patterns of
homophily and heterophily using position-generated network data.
The name generator technique
• asking the respondent to list his or her network members by posing
one or more questions;
• 1985 GSS (General Social Survey):
“From time to time, most people discuss important matters with other
people. Looking back over the last six months – who are the people with
whom you discussed matters important to you? Just tell me their first
name or initials” (Marsden, 1987, 1988).
• Then a series of questions followed to acquire more specific
information about the first five names: sex, race/ethnicity,
education, age, religious preference, relationships type, relationship
duration and closeness.
The position generator technique
•
Asking each respondent: “Do you know anyone among your relatives, friends, or acquaintances
that has one of the following jobs? (‘Knowing’ means that you and the person can recognize and
greet each other. If you know several person that have a particular job, please name the person
that comes to mind first)” (Lin and Dumin, 1986; Lin, Fu and Hsung, 2001).
•
A certain number of jobs then followed (from a full list of all occupations)
•
If the respondent knows someone with a particular position, a series of follow-up questions are
asked concerning the characteristics of the position occupant (e.g., sex, race/ethnicity) and the
relationship between the respondent and the position occupant (e.g., how long they knew each
other and the closeness of the relationship).
•
The PG technique adds the resource element into the instrument, not just the relationship;
•
available social resources are directly inferred by the prestige or class location of the occupations
that are sampled in the instrument;
•
access to positions with higher prestige scores or higher class location means better and more
valuable resources
The differences between the two network data
generators (NG versus PG): homophily and heterophily.
• The weakness of the NG lies in that it ignores to a large extent the
heterophily principle. The network data from the NG tend to reflect
stronger ties, stronger role relations and geographically limited ties: a
biased ample of one’s actual social network (mostly homophilous ties:
friends and relatives); a limited number of names generated (3-5); limited
range and scope;
• The PG is designed to take into account both the homophily and
heterophily principles. The network data collected from the PG tend to
reflect a more diverse social ties in terms of tie strength, role relations and
number of ties, composed of both homophilous (friends and relatives) and
heterophilous ties (friends of friends, acquaintances), thus a
representative sample of one’s actual social network.
• In sum, the NG network data measure one’s core network; the PG
network data measure one’s extended network.