Managing Social Capital
Lecture 1
I. History of social capital theory
✓ Classical and neo-capitalist theories
✓ Multilevel & social network perspectives
What is Marx view on capital?
- Capital= part of surplus value, a product of an investment process
o Surplus value: products of capitalists sold at a higher price (user value)
- Capitalization= investment process, in which surplus value is produced and captured by a
class
Marx’s perspective
- Exploitative relations between two classes
- View on society: dichotomous
Human capital theory (Becker, 1964/ 93)
- Human capital= individual knowledge, skills, abilities and other traits (KSAOs)
Main tenets of this theory
1. Education and training are an important form of capital
2. Individuals have choice in what KSAOs to ‘invest’
3. Labor market determines the value of an individual’s human capital
Neo-capitalist theories
Cultural capital theory (Bourdieu, 1990)
- Cultural capital= investments on part of the dominant class (regular people) in reproducing a
set of symbols and meaning of the bourgeoise (upper class)
Forms and functions of cultural capital
- Embodied cultural capital (upbringing and experience)
- Objectified cultural capital (e.g., artworks, books)
- Institutionalized cultural capital (e.g., formal degrees)
➢ Function: People use cultural capital to maintain their status and exclude others
Psychological capital theory (Luthans, 2002; Doci et al., 2022)
- PsyCap= Having high levels of (a) self-efficacy, (b) hope, (c) optimism, (d) resilience
Key findings and assumptions
- PsyCap is trait-like, but can be developed
- Facilitates individual (and firm) performance
Critical perspective (Doci et al, 2022)
- PsyCap is rooted in different social learning trajectories due to inequalities in society
(different social expectations, learning opportunities, role models, etc.)
,Different forms of capital
Multilevel perspectives
Differences in social capital between/ within individuals
- How do individuals invest in social relations (e.g., mentorships)?
- How do individuals generate a return from social relations (e.g., feedback seeking)?
Differences in social capital between groups
- How do certain groups develop social capital (e.g., how does trust in teams facilitate
knowledge-sharing)?
- How do such collective assets enhance group member’s life chances (e.g., does being part of
a student association provide more access to study resources)?
Social network perspective
- Network structure
- Network ties
- Special network structures: Small world
, - Special ties: Brokerage and bridges
- The strength of weak ties
II. Conceptualizing and measuring social capital
✓ Conceptualization of SC
✓ Measurement of SC
Lin 1999- Definition of SC
Lin (1999, P.35) states:
Social capital can be defined as resources embedded in a social structure which are accessed and/ or
mobilized in purposive actions
This definition has three important ingredients:
1. Resources embedded in a social structure (structure)
2. Accessibility to such social resources by individuals (accessibility); and
3. Use or mobilization of social resources by individuals is purposive (use)
Lin (1999)- Embedded resources perspective
What types of embedded resources does Lin distinguish?
- Network resources= resources embedded in social network that are directly accessible
- Contact resources= resources embedded within contacts that are used as helpers in an
instrumental action
Lin (1999)- Network location perspective
Assumption: Key to social capital is the location of individuals in a network
➢ Dense networks may be more suitable for perversing or maintaining resources
➢ Weak ties are more useful for obtaining resources not presently possessed
, Lin (1999)- Measurement
Embedded network resources
- Range of possible resources (e.g., number of colleagues)
- Best possible resources (e.g., expert opinion)
- Variety of resources (e.g., interdisciplinary research)
- Composition of resources (e.g., all colleagues at assistant prof. level)
Embedded contact resources
- Wealth, status, power of the contacts (e.g. editorial board member)
Name generator with a content-frame (here: personal matter)
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 an important personal matter? (Baily
and Marsden, 1999, pg. 288)
Problem: bias towards strong ties (availability bias)
Name generator with a content-frame and frequency
Position generator: names of people who have access to certain resources (here: jobs), inclusion of
multiple criteria (gender, time, etc.)
Saturation survey: complete mapping of network (restricted to small networks)
III. Antecedents and mobilization of social capital
✓ What explains inequality of social capital?
✓ How do actors mobilize social capital to create value?
Lecture 1
I. History of social capital theory
✓ Classical and neo-capitalist theories
✓ Multilevel & social network perspectives
What is Marx view on capital?
- Capital= part of surplus value, a product of an investment process
o Surplus value: products of capitalists sold at a higher price (user value)
- Capitalization= investment process, in which surplus value is produced and captured by a
class
Marx’s perspective
- Exploitative relations between two classes
- View on society: dichotomous
Human capital theory (Becker, 1964/ 93)
- Human capital= individual knowledge, skills, abilities and other traits (KSAOs)
Main tenets of this theory
1. Education and training are an important form of capital
2. Individuals have choice in what KSAOs to ‘invest’
3. Labor market determines the value of an individual’s human capital
Neo-capitalist theories
Cultural capital theory (Bourdieu, 1990)
- Cultural capital= investments on part of the dominant class (regular people) in reproducing a
set of symbols and meaning of the bourgeoise (upper class)
Forms and functions of cultural capital
- Embodied cultural capital (upbringing and experience)
- Objectified cultural capital (e.g., artworks, books)
- Institutionalized cultural capital (e.g., formal degrees)
➢ Function: People use cultural capital to maintain their status and exclude others
Psychological capital theory (Luthans, 2002; Doci et al., 2022)
- PsyCap= Having high levels of (a) self-efficacy, (b) hope, (c) optimism, (d) resilience
Key findings and assumptions
- PsyCap is trait-like, but can be developed
- Facilitates individual (and firm) performance
Critical perspective (Doci et al, 2022)
- PsyCap is rooted in different social learning trajectories due to inequalities in society
(different social expectations, learning opportunities, role models, etc.)
,Different forms of capital
Multilevel perspectives
Differences in social capital between/ within individuals
- How do individuals invest in social relations (e.g., mentorships)?
- How do individuals generate a return from social relations (e.g., feedback seeking)?
Differences in social capital between groups
- How do certain groups develop social capital (e.g., how does trust in teams facilitate
knowledge-sharing)?
- How do such collective assets enhance group member’s life chances (e.g., does being part of
a student association provide more access to study resources)?
Social network perspective
- Network structure
- Network ties
- Special network structures: Small world
, - Special ties: Brokerage and bridges
- The strength of weak ties
II. Conceptualizing and measuring social capital
✓ Conceptualization of SC
✓ Measurement of SC
Lin 1999- Definition of SC
Lin (1999, P.35) states:
Social capital can be defined as resources embedded in a social structure which are accessed and/ or
mobilized in purposive actions
This definition has three important ingredients:
1. Resources embedded in a social structure (structure)
2. Accessibility to such social resources by individuals (accessibility); and
3. Use or mobilization of social resources by individuals is purposive (use)
Lin (1999)- Embedded resources perspective
What types of embedded resources does Lin distinguish?
- Network resources= resources embedded in social network that are directly accessible
- Contact resources= resources embedded within contacts that are used as helpers in an
instrumental action
Lin (1999)- Network location perspective
Assumption: Key to social capital is the location of individuals in a network
➢ Dense networks may be more suitable for perversing or maintaining resources
➢ Weak ties are more useful for obtaining resources not presently possessed
, Lin (1999)- Measurement
Embedded network resources
- Range of possible resources (e.g., number of colleagues)
- Best possible resources (e.g., expert opinion)
- Variety of resources (e.g., interdisciplinary research)
- Composition of resources (e.g., all colleagues at assistant prof. level)
Embedded contact resources
- Wealth, status, power of the contacts (e.g. editorial board member)
Name generator with a content-frame (here: personal matter)
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 an important personal matter? (Baily
and Marsden, 1999, pg. 288)
Problem: bias towards strong ties (availability bias)
Name generator with a content-frame and frequency
Position generator: names of people who have access to certain resources (here: jobs), inclusion of
multiple criteria (gender, time, etc.)
Saturation survey: complete mapping of network (restricted to small networks)
III. Antecedents and mobilization of social capital
✓ What explains inequality of social capital?
✓ How do actors mobilize social capital to create value?
