略论社会资本经济学

社会资本是指能产生经济利益的社会因素,网络与认知观念是社会资本的两种主要形式.当前,社会资本经济学正在形成之中.本文对社会资本概念、社会资本经济学的行为假设及其主要的研究内容进行了初步探讨.     

社会资本培育的经济学与社会学分析

社会资本作为资本的形态之一具有生产性和增值性,而社会资本的本质内涵是社会信任,社会信任产生的心理基础则是个体对其他社会成员道德行为或善行的预期,道德品行、社会信任与社会资本具有天然的内在联系。本文采用经济学和社会学相结合的研究方法,首先从理论上探讨社会资本与道德品行之间的关系,然后将社会资本与社会信任联系起来,说明以道德品行和社会信任为基础的社会资本具有生产力;最后从个体、企业和政府等不同层次的主体入手,探讨社会资本的培育如何从微观领域扩展到宏观领域。     

企业社会资本的概念与测量：一个综合理论分析框架

本文采用“网络闭合”和“结构洞”两种社会资本的理论视角,提出“信任”和“网络位置”是企业社会资本的最主要特征的观点,并从组织和群体两个层面及企业内部和外部两个部分对企业的社会资本测量进行了分析。在本文所提出的企业社会资本测量的分析框架中,在组织层面上,将企业看作是网络中的节点,关注企业的正式关系以及网络结构特征;在群体层面上,将企业社会资本看作是企业“班底”的内部信任程度以及在他们在人际关系网络中的位置。     

社会资本理论的新进展

近年来 ,“社会资本”概念的讨论范围已扩展到社会学、经济学和政治学等诸多社会科学领域。研究者对社会资本的理解也不再局限于个人社会网络中嵌入的资源 ,而是在更为宏观的层面上讨论某一社群拥有的社会网络、信任和规范等社会资本情况。本文对社会资本理论的新发展进行了回顾 ,并对目前社会资本研究涉及的主要领域进行了概述。     

城市居民社会网络资本的结构特征

一、研究主题和文献检视本文使用2000年北京城市居民大规模问卷调查的实证数据,通过分析北京城市居民个人层次的社会网络资本的结构状况,试图揭示中国城市居民微观社会结构的一般特征。在与前人相关研究比较分析的基础上,探讨宏观社会结构变迁在什么程度和通过什么方式为城市居民社会网络的建立和维持提供了机会或限制。虽然学界关于社会资本的概念界定和操作化测量存在着许多争论(Lin,1999;林南,2001;张文宏,2003;罗家德、赵延东,2005),但是以往关于自我中心网络(egocentric networks)或个人层次的社会资本的实证研究虽然涉及不同的研究主…     

社会网络资本与干部职业地位获得

本文利用2003年-5月至2004 年5 月间对两省委党校部分学员的调查资料,分析了社会网络资本、人力资本和年龄等因素对干部现职级别的影响,结果发现,社会网络资本在干部职业地位获得过程中确实起着重要作用。其中,网络顶端、父母行政级别、关键人行政级别、与关键人的熟悉程度等因素对因变量具有显著的正面影响,而网络规模、网络多元性等对因变量的影响不显著或产生负面影响。这说明,在当前干部职业地位获得过程中,关系强度和地位发挥了关键作用,而广泛的交往并不能增加干部职位提升的机会。多元回归分析还表明,社会网络资本并不是唯一起作用的因素,人力资本和社会资本构成了当前干部职业地位获得中的并行不悖的双重机制。     

自然灾害中的社会资本研究

自然灾害具有复杂的社会属性,在近期的灾害研究中,研究者开始引入"社会资本"这一社会结构性资源的概念,分析社会资本在灾害中的角色和作用.本文对相关的理论与经验研究的综述表明,微观层面上的社会资本(个人通过社会网络可获得的资源)可帮助受灾者获取有关灾害的信息,得到救援、物质支持和精神鼓励等实质性资源;而表现为公众自愿组成的公民组织、人际信任以及合作与利他的社会规范的宏观社会资本则可以促使受灾社区及居民的团结合作,更积极地参与到灾后重建工作中来.     

社会资本理论视阈下的社会稳定问题研究

转型期的中国正处于矛盾多发期,对稳定社会秩序的追求已成为人们最大的利益。社会资本所蕴涵的诚信、规范有序和公民密集的参与网络,直接影响着社会稳定与和谐。当前,我国社会资本还存在着严重缺失和不均衡现象,制约着社会的良性运行和协调发展,对我国社会稳定的维护产生了极大地影响。因此,培育社会资本应当成为维护、增进社会稳定的一个重要视角。     

社会资本与企业间协作

社会资本是经济学和社会学交叉研究的结果,可以提高物质资本的效率.社会资本的研究突破了传统的理性人理念,是企业协作的重要支撑.社会资本对企业协作的调节是一种非正式调节,不具有法律的强制力,所以需要企业具有一定的社会责任来协调彼此的利益关系,最终达到一种共赢的协作.     

The relationship between non-marital fathers' social networks and social capital and father involvement

Literature and research examining father involvement has focused primarily on outcomes associated with the well-being and development of children. Receiving limited attention in this literature has been the examination of the contextual factors associated with fathers and how these factors shape fathers' involvement with their young children. Addressing this limitation, this study focuses on the intra- and interdependent networks non-marital fathers maintain and utilize in fulfilling their parental responsibilities of father involvement. Results of the regression models indicate that non-marital fathers' relationship with their former spouse or partner and involvement with informal networks is positively associated with their involvement with young children. Policy and practice implications are discussed.     

儿童参与、城市社区与社会资本

在中国,长期以来儿童一直被作为弱势群体而被排除在社区参与之外。实际上,儿童参与对于整个社区的发展有着不可忽视的作用。面对中国城市社区各阶层成人参与率低、社区内社会资本没有充分被调动的情况,本文试图探讨通过社区“儿童参与”来带动“成人参与”进而形成整个社区的社会资本这一社区发展模式。     

Social capital and children's wellbeing: a critical synthesis of the international social capital literature

Drawing on social capital literature from the international realm, this article presents a critical synthesis of this social resource in relation to children's and youth's wellbeing. Although considerable evidence indicates that social capital can have a positive impact on future outcomes for children and youth, no prior comprehensive review exists of the literature on social capital and children's wellbeing. Adopting the systematic review method (SR), the author explores how social capital has been conceptualised and operationalised as an explanatory variable in research on individual and collective wellbeing with children and youth. Oft-cited indicators of family social capital and community social capital are identified, together with common control variables, such as human and financial capital. The author concludes by examining several social capital trends in relation to children's wellbeing and offering recommendations for future research using a social capital theoretical framework to explore additional outcomes related to children's and youth's wellbeing.     

Family support, social capital, resilience and adolescent coping

All too often young people are excluded in practice from the general policy and professional consensus that partnership and participation should underpin work with children, young people and their families. If working with troubled and troublesome young people is to be based on family support, it will require not only the clear statement of that policy but also demonstration that it can be applied in practice. Achieving that involves setting out a plausible theory of change that can be rigorously evaluated. This paper suggests a conceptual model that draws on social support theory to harness the ideas of social capital and resilience in a way that can link formal family support interventions to adolescent coping. Research with young people attending three community‐based projects for marginalized youth is used to illustrate how validated tools can be used to measure and document the detail of support, resilience, social capital and coping in young people's lives. It is also suggested that there is sufficient fit between the findings emerging from the study and the model to justify the model being more rigorously tested.     

Economic perspectives on social exclusion

In this paper some economic perspectives on social exclusion are presented. The perspectives come from traditional areas of economics, especially human capital theory, and from the new area of behavioural economics, especially present bias and the status externality. They show that happiness, human capital and individual choice can yield insights for the study of social exclusion. The economic perspectives discussed in this paper can help respond to the suggestion by Mary Daly and Hilary Silver to move beyond the concept of social exclusion to a “fully‐articulated theory” of social exclusion. Furthermore they support the judgement of Ruth Levitas that in the public debate there is inadequate pressure for redistribution, excessive moral blame placed on the socially excluded, and an excessive concern for labour force participation at the expense of non‐market activity, as expressed in her development and discussion of the RED‐MUD‐SID framework of discourses.     

Gender, social capital and location: understanding the interactions

In recent years, governments in many post-industrial nations have re-discovered 'community'. Social capital and neighbourhood renewal are key concepts underpinning policies aimed at building the capacities of communities to respond to the problems facing them. Despite the apparent consensus amongst Anglo-American governments about the use of social capital, and related concepts, as a guide for policy formulation these ideas remain hotly contested amongst social policy commentators. Against a general backdrop of disquiet about the application of social capital initiatives to communities facing significant social and economic challenges, some commentators highlight the curious inattention to gender in debates about social capital. This is all the more troubling given the apparent reliance of social capital initiatives on the informal network-building activities often undertaken by women. In this article we present findings from an empirical study of social capital creation across four geographically diverse communities. We show that the relationship between gender and social capital is complex. We argue that the 'one-size-fits-all' approach to social capital formulation fails to recognise gendered patterns of social capital formulation, but so, too, do analyses of gender that neglect the complex interactions between gender and other factors, particularly location, age and income. We argue for approaches to policy formulation that recognise local differences, including differences between and amongst men and women in social capital creation.     

The vexed link between social capital and social mobility for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

Overcoming the socio‐economic disparity between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non‐Indigenous Australians is a long‐standing social policy objective: one largely shared by Indigenous people. Achievement will require Indigenous individuals and households to be socially mobile, a process integrally involved with social capital, existing and requisite. The lack of research on Indigenous social mobility or its attendant social capital connections is addressed in this paper through an exploratory analysis of this interaction across three dimensions: distinctive patterns of Indigenous social capital; the transferability of Indigenous social capital; and traversing the social capital divide. The implications drawn, while tentative, indicate that for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people the intersection of the processes of social mobility and social capital is vexed, and contains hazards and costs not fully shared by socially mobile non‐Indigenous households. The Indigenous‐specific factors of a gendered professional class, the identity–social capital link, and Indigenous labour market circumstances all indicate that more research and a more nuanced understanding of Indigenous social mobility is necessary. Social policy recommendations include broadening the concept of cultural leave to include bonding social capital obligations, especially for women, and re‐evaluation of how to support Indigenous career trajectories and transferable skill sets.     

Moderation effect of social capital on flourishing among left-behind and other children in rural China

ABSTRACT

This study examines the ways that social capital sustains flourishing among rural Chinese children, including left-behind children (LBC). Social capital combines structural, substantive, and functional components. Data came from a survey of 995 children in rural areas of China. Results show that LBC experienced significantly lower flourishing and social capital than did other children. In addition, background factors including caretakers’ education and parental marital status had great positive effects on flourishing. Furthermore, the interaction effect of social capital and parental marital status was significantly positive on flourishing. The findings imply the need to boost social capital and flourishing in LBC. Meanwhile, maintaining parental marriage is important for boosting flourishing.     

Transnational ethnic networks and the creation of immigrant social capital: A multilevel analysis

This study examines the network determinants of post-migration social capital among a group of foreign wives living in Korea. Based on a newly collected dataset, which consists of representative samples of Chinese, Japanese, and Vietnamese women, it analyzes how and to what extent the survey respondents’ preexisting transnational ties to prior co-ethnic migrants in Korea influence their differential access to social capital. Two measures of social capital are used: the size of friendship network with native Koreans and the prestige score of occupational categories of the network contacts. Multilevel analysis reveals that while controlling for a host of individual- and contextual-level factors, ethnicity-based networks are significant in allowing foreign wives to build social capital in the host society. However, not all network relations have a uniform causal impact. Rather, they have a contingent role in the formation of post-migration social capital.     

Social capital and health at the country level

This study examines the relationship between social capital and health. We use various estimation methods such as pooled OLS, a split-sample approach, a quadratic regression, and fixed effects model to investigate country-level unbalanced panel data of 194 countries for the time period 1990–2015. The results support the negative effect of bonding social capital and the positive effect of bridging social capital on health. The effects are more pronounced in low income countries. The first contribution of the paper is to better explain the mixed results of previous studies by focusing on the distinction between the two types of social capital. The second contribution of the paper is to address endogeneity and nonlinearity problems and to capture dynamic change by using various econometric methods. The findings imply that the socio-economic effects of social capital are different depending on the type of social capital.