Social Capital: An International Research Program

by Nan Lin (Editor), Bonnie Erickson (Editor)

Overview

For two decades, a significant number of scholars have subscribed to a common definition of social capital (resources embedded in social networks), employed a standard measurement (the position generator methodology), and conducted original research. Their sustained efforts have demonstrated the power of the concept of social capital in diverse arenas of research and varied cultural and societal settings. Their work has contributed to the substantiation, development, and expansion of social capital as a key scientific concept and theory. This book presents an introduction to some of the most recent work in the area. The volume editors have brought together scholars in North America, Europe, and East Asia to offer original and accessible reports of their own research studies. Covering both methodological and substantive issues, they demonstrate the continued importance of social capital as a guiding concept and theory in social sciences today.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780199565986
Publisher:	Oxford University Press
Publication date:	03/26/2010
Pages:	496
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 6.10(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Nan Lin is Oscar L. Tang Family Professor of Sociology at Duke University. He has conducted research on social capital, social networks, stratification and mobility, and stress coping in the United States, China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He has written or edited seven books and published numerous book chapters and journal articles. He is also an Academician at Academia Sinica in Taiwan and holds honorary professorship in many universities in China.

Bonnie Erickson is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. She is also cross-appointed to the Centre for Studies on Aging, the Centre for Urban and Community Studies, the Centre for Industrial Relations, and is on the Board of Directors of the Centre for Health Promotion. Erickson has written articles on a wide variety of topics published in Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology, American Sociological Review, Social Networks, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, and others.

Table of Contents

1. Theory, Measurement, and the Research Enterprise on Social Capital, Nan LinPart I: The Position Generator Methodology: its Reliability, Validity and Variation2. Position generator measures and their relationship to other Social Capital measures, Martin Van der Gaag, Tom A. B. Snijders, Henk Flap3. Position Generator and Actual Networks in Everyday Life: An Evaluation with Contact Diary, Yang-chih Fu4. Social, cultural, and economic capital and job attainment: The position generator as a measure of cultural and economic resources, Henk Flap and Beate Völker5. The Formation of Social Capital among Chinese Urbanites: Theoretical Explanation and Empirical Evidence, Yanjie BianPart II: Mobilization of Social Capital6. The Invisible Hand of Social Capital: An Exploratory Study, Nan Lin and Dan Ao7. Social Resources and their effect on occupational attainment through the life course, Hester Moerbeek and Henk Flap8. A Question of Access or Mobilization? Understanding Inefficacious Job Referral Networks among the Black Poor, Sandra Susan SmithPart III: Social Capital, Civil Engagement, Social Participation, and Trust9. 9. Social Networks of Participants in Voluntary Associations, René Bekkers, Beate Völker, Martin van der Gaag, and Henk Flap10. The Internet, Social Capital, Civic Engagement, and Gender in Japan, Kakuko Miyata, Ken'ichi Ikeda, and Tetsuro Kobayashi11. Social Capital of Personnel Managers: the Causes and Return of Position-Generated Networks and the Participation in Voluntary Associations, Ray-May Hsung and Yi-Jr Lin12. It's Not Only Who You Know, It's Also Where They Are: Using the Position 12. Generator to Investigate the Structure of Access to Embedded Resources, Sandra Enns, Todd Malinick, and Ralph Matthews13. Gender, Network Capital, Social Capital and Political Capital: The Consequences of Personal Network Diversity for Environmentalists in British Columbia., D. B. Tindall and Jeffrey J. Cormier14. Civic Participation and Social Capital: A Social Network Analysis in Two American Counties, Marc Porter MageePart IV: Social Institutions and Inequality in Social Capital15. Marriage, Gender, and Social Capital, Gina Lai16. Access to Social Capital and Status Attainment in the United States: Racial/Ethnic and Gender Differences, Jennifer L. Moren-Cross and Nan Lin17. Access to social capital and the structure of inequality in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, Catherine A. Johnson18. Assessing Social Capital and Attainment Dynamics - position-generator (pg)-applications in Hungary, 1987-2003, Róbert Angelusz and Róbert TardosReferencesIndex

Editorial Reviews

"Social Capital... is an ambitious and important book that, like the concept it seeks to clarify, measure and utilize, merits careful attention by sociologists across the spectrum." —Contemporary Sociology

From the Publisher