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Some political scientists argue that social capital is disappearing. What is social capital?

Social capital is our network or web of relationships with others that is of benefit to us. These can be formal, such as membership in a club or informal, such as a group of friends.  This can be a very loose arrangement, such as a group of neighbors who are acquainted with one another, or a closer arrangement, a person's one or two best friends. 


Benefits that accrue as a result of social capital are many and varied. When a distant relative told me her son was looking for a position as a teacher in St. Louis, I remembered that I had gone to law school with someone who had a successful practice there, and I checked with him and then passed on his name.  Networking, thus, relies on social capital to help one find work.  When my neighbors across the street went out of town, I offered to keep an eye on the house and take in the mail for them.  This social capital benefits both of us, giving me an opportunity to be helpful and them some peace of mind. When people are looking for funds for a cause, they call upon those whom they know to raise money, which capitalizes on their social capital.  There is social capital in a book group, which brings people together to discuss the books they read in common for the pleasure of the discussion (and usually a good snack, too.) All the various relationships we have create our social capital, whether we choose to call upon it or not.


I do not know if you are expected to write a response to that statement, but I must say I do not agree with it.  I suspect that the statement is based to some degree on how many people now choose to live alone and how many people build much of their social capital through social media.  However, living alone does not mean not having social capital.  Most people have it through their neighborhoods, their school or work, or through family.  And I am not convinced so far that building social capital by way of social media is any less effective that building it in person.  I see people who have never met one another reaching out and helping the other all the time, in ways tangible and intangible, on social media.  A woman I have never met in person, who is the cousin of a good friend, is my friend on Facebook, and she has invited me to stay at her house!  I think it is fair to say that social capital is evolving in many ways that none of us could ever have imagined even ten years ago.  


In another vein, I have also seen the term "social capital" used to mean the lingua franca that helps bring us together in our social discourse, so that one can count on people having read particular authors, having knowledge of certain kinds of music, and having tastes and preferences of a certain sort, so that conversations can be filled with allusions that are a shortcut conversationally, with references that others will be able to understand.  This sort of social capital does seem to be disappearing rapidly, with my generation (the baby boomers) seeming to be the last to use it. 

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