UNPACKING SOCIAL CAPITAL THE BIG BANG THEORY WAY

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Networks as Social Capital (Kadushin Chapter 10)

What is social capital?

Theorists…

Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) (French sociologist, anthropologist, philosopher) – structural definition of social capital: the sum of the actual or potential resources linked to a strong network of institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance or recognition. The conversion of social obligations to economic capital or status positions Penny’s napkin gift, turned into increased status

in Sheldon’s eyes and economic value in the form of gift baskets.

Theorists…

James Coleman (1926-1995) (American Sociologist) – functional definition of social capital: a variety of different entities that have two characteristics in common – all have social structure and all facilitate certain actions of individuals within the structure. Social structure becomes social capital when it is cashed in to further one’s goals. The three benefits/outcomes of this theory: information, influence and control. Penny’s gift becomes social capital and the gift resulted in

Penny gaining information (learning the extent of Sheldon’s love of Leonard Nimoy), influence (having met Leonard Nimoy her stock has gone up for Sheldon) and control (by giving the gift she has gained the upper hand in the relationship)

Theorists

Robert Putnam (1941- ) (political scientist) theorized that social capital is a social system

Social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups – civic virtue through reciprocity and trust

Participation in groups and informal networks bridge different groups Penny is the socializer in the group – she

participates in many communities and acts as a bridge between them – especially for the nerds

Claude Fischer (American Sociologist) stated… “Social capital is everything

psychological and sociological about a person” We saw the psychological effects on

Sheldon and then in the end with his reciprocation, also the sociological effects.

Two underlying assumptions1. People invest in their social networks

in anticipation of future advantage Penny gained a lot of future advantage by

giving Sheldon a gift he highly valued2. Social networks containing resources

that people can draw upon for their own benefit are rarely directly tested

Sheldon would never have seen the value in Penny as a link to Leonard Nimoy – this would have been an untested resource

Defining some terms

Glanville and Bienenstock(University of North Carolina) (University of Iowa)

Micro dense networks are associated with individual social support This is what the Big Bang Theory is really

about – a small group of individuals who are very close and are each other’s support system

Macro dense social networks lead to norm enforcement The academic environment that these

geeks live in is their macro environment – it forms their own definition of “norm”

Anomie

Anomie is the opposite of positive social capital – eg) the kid who gets picked last for the sports team or the community that lacks moral standards such as gangs Sheldon or Howard or Raj or Leonard are

all at times examples of anomie Penny is an example of positive social

capital

Measurement Issues with social capital

There is no universalcoin for social capital

It is hard to know what is equitable when there is no standard measurement of value This is what Sheldon struggles with. To Sheldon

a napkin signed and used by Leonard Nimoy was worth more than he was able to reciprocate

To Penny her gift was trivial Difference in frames of reference/values

makes it impossible to assign a value to social capital

What might constitutesocial capital value The potential access to resources is the

key to social capital within networks Penny as a waitress had access to Leonard

Nimoy making her a very valuable resource to Sheldon

Investment in network resources builds social capital

Penny gets around – she builds up her resources and takes advantage of them by using them to buy social capital

The value ofdiversity and richness The diversity of organizations a person

belongs to increases a person’s social capital Neither dense nor sparse social networks lead

to optimal social capital and developing an optimal level of cohesion appears to be complicated. Penny works at a restaurant, is a struggling actress,

goes to parties and hangs out with a group of nerds – her world is pretty diverse and her social network is less dense and has more structural holes than Sheldon’s – making her a valuable social capital resource.

Lin and Dumin’s theory of the position generator This is an indicator of potential access to networked

resources – benchmark to measure social capital Assumption #1: the most valuable resources are

found at the higher levels of occupational structures Assumption #2: Instrumental action is more likely to

happen if higher valued resources are available Assumption #3: The higher position one is able to

reach, the greater likelihood of accessing valuable resources (measures potential access not actual access )

It’s not what you know, it’s who you know In this case – Penny’s stock rose and she became a

valuable resource by meeting Leonard Nimoy

Social support

Structure of the support an individual is embedded in – the quality and size of the network affects the social capital. Weak ties can be important supports in regards to social capital

Penny would have been considered a weak tie for Sheldon as in his opinion she is of lower socio-economic status and intelligence

Defining close and weak ties It is difficult to determine close and

weak ties as they change depending on the environment or situation In the time it took Sheldon to open his

gift, Penny moved from being what he would probably consider a weak tie, to his strongest tie.

Measuring trust

Generalized trust measurements are problematic due to the assumption that trust is synonymous with access to resources Sheldon may see Penny as having

access to a valuable resource (Leonard Nimoy), however, he may not trust her in other areas in his life

Individual and group social capital

Individual social capital

Social networks are exclusionary and unfair – they run on the homophily principle – which may infer that people of low socioeconomic status struggle to get out of their group In the Big Bang Theory, the nerds have a

hard time getting out of the nerd herd – Penny is their broker, their link to the “cool” world

Group social capital Tight networks have positive (trust) and

negative (loss of privacy) consequences Leonard and Sheldon (and friends) are a tight

network – they trust each other, but in return give up privacy (the roommate agreement)

People who can take advantage of structural holes have an advantage in a network

Social solidarity is the most general aspect of social capital at the group level – built on mutual trust and commitment over time This group of friends has built mutual trust by

supporting each other over an extended period of time and thus have created social solidarity

Community Resources

Community benefits from individual social relations as the reputations, actions and benefits are visible and available to people who have not necessarily invested in social relations The group of friends benefits from the

individual social relations of Penny. Her “street smarts” and mere association with them, increases the group’s social capital within their nerd community.

Investmentin networked resources There may be conscious effort to

invest in social relations Sheldon had pre-purchased various

levels of reciprocal gifts – he was making a conscious effort to invest in social relations

Investment may be at an unconscious level based on social norms Penny was giving a gift as it was

customary – not because she was consciously investing in networked resources

Summary

Kadushin unpacked social capital by providing some theories and definitions

Highlighted the issues with trying to measure social capital

Reviewed the consequences of social capital at different levels

Discussion

Besides status or socioeconomic factors, are there other advantages realized by increased social capital?

Does social media level the social capital playing field or create a bigger diversity in the ability for lower socioeconomic groups to access the resources available to higher socioeconomic groups?