Social Capital, Essay Example

Social capital refers to the resources available to groups and individuals that emanate from their informal and formal social networks. The majority of the studies have focused on the positive implications of social capital, such as reducing the risk of violence and crime by altering patterns of conduct and boosting security. Social capital is associated with minimized costs of social transactions and better communal ties. This is emphasized to give room for the peaceful handling of communal and interpersonal conflicts and the facilitation of countering free-rider issues. Interpersonal trust and civic engagement have a common reinforcing association (Alcorta, Smits, Swedlund, and Jong). Neighborhood-oriented trust is affiliated with reduced extents of criminal violence. However, social capital is considered harmful when it yields adverse outcomes. It has probable downsides, particularly when it restricts personal freedom, exclusion of outsiders, and excess claims on group members. As a result, it becomes necessary to assess the implications of negative social capital in a detailed manner.

Negative social capital can be conflict-promoting when it motivates exclusionary conduct. Strong associations amongst members of an entity bar others from access. Engagement in communities or groups regularly necessitates members to abide by the organization, enhanced social manipulation and potentially disallowing individual freedom and thinking are detrimental. When organizational solidarity is founded on a common negative encounter, retrogressive leveling norms play a significant role. For instance, Colombia encountered ‘perverse’ social capital for criminality and violence.

The nature of the association between violence and social capital is indefinite, and that is why data-based research on violence and social capital encounters mixed outcomes. When there was a Muslim-Hindu conflict in India, it was discovered that if associational membership was established on intra-ethnic lines, it could trigger ethnic violence. Structural social capital comprises informal and formal social networks associated with rules and procedures. Examples are trade unions, sports clubs, and religious entities. Considering cognitive, social capital, it incorporates shared values, norms, beliefs, and attitudes commonly applied as the indicators of trust between community members (Alcorta, Smits, Swedlund, and Jong). Organizational members may mingle for malicious reasons. Benign cooperative ventures may, with time, become a foundation for organized violence. The growth of social capital in groups may result in negative implications when they exhibit exclusionary practices based on intolerance and hate with others. In such cases, or when organizations are already engaged in violence, peaceful individuals may be convinced by their counterparts to embrace violent conduct. On the other hand, entities comprising pro-social individuals who desire to collaborate with one another are highly capable of survival in inter-group riots.

Knowledge on chances may also diffuse via the network, ensuring that well-connected people gain more information and acquire it faster. Therefore, the nature of a person’s network impacts their engagement in common violent deeds since an individual’s number of connections, the higher the participation opportunities they encounter. Additionally, people with more civic society engagement through political activities encounter more ‘time at risk’ and are hence prone to violence compared to those who engage in minimal such community activities (Alcorta, Smits, Swedlund, and Jong). Active engagement in civil society may also expose people to authorities or others due to their political participation. As a result, the probability of indulging in violent encounters becomes higher. The more active an individual is, the more likely they will be impacted by the organization and become more predisposed to the organization’s collective actions.

The Rwanda genocide is an ideal example of the impacts of negative social violence. High levels of social capital prevailed through vertical and horizontal associations. Vertical associations were properly organized at sector and cellule levels. Social capital catered for a higher percentage of the cooperation and organization required to execute the genocide. While associations were to disintegrate between the Tutsi and Hutu, bonds were reinforced and strengthened between the Hutu. As a result, social capital contributed to the massacre. The hierarchical state structure and engagement in mediation allowed the government to manipulate people’s connections. The rise of multi-party politics triggered the politicization of social capital. The Mouvement Democratique Republican party carried out meetings in the commune offices and the cellules with the help of local leaders (Alcorta, Smits, Swedlund, and Jong). Political parties were of importance than people’s lives where Hutu engagement in the MDR disintegrated any social capital bridge. Political parties turned into teams with uniforms, ensuring force engagement. Other than catering for social capital, community leaders manipulated their societal positions to address party ideologies in the cellules. They were the catalysts of the instant development of genocide. Extremists used vertical associations to advocate racist ideologies. As a result, the genocide became an exercise in communal organization and cooperation. In the absence of conversion of social capital, it is doubtful that the Rwanda genocide would have occurred.

COVID and Negative Social Capital

Soon after the reporting of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, the world encountered a significant health shock. Millions of people have succumbed to COVID-19, while others have been infected. As a result, preventive measures became a priority to handle the outbreak. Mandatory residential quarantine became operationalized as a preventative measure, schools were closed, and multiple businesses were closed. As a result, people’s participation and social presence were minimized (Jahromi and Kaveh), and mass gatherings and social interactions that brought people together became minimal. As a result, the socio-economic sector became inconsistent while health policies triggered pessimism and degraded trust in organizations and governments. As much as the alterations in social trends were distinct from country to country, the progressive implications of the pandemic are worrying as social capital has become endangered.

Social capital is established through social trust, social participation, and trust between citizens and their government. It is the bond that connects families, individuals, community organizations, and groups with common values, norms, beliefs, and attitudes. Iran, a growing nation, and the COVID-19 pandemic happened in the middle of a prevailing financial crisis in the country. Foreign sanctions against the nation slugged economic development and resulted in heightened inflation rates. As a result, the Iranian government found it difficult to curb COVID-19. The financial situation has resulted in insufficient funds assigned for the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19. The healthcare department cannot implement relevant measures to buy drugs, vaccines, and the total coverage of health insurance. As a result, Iran encounters rising frustrations and distrust with its citizens. The COVID-19  emergence triggered people to embrace technology as their only communication tool (Jahromi and Kaveh). The epidemic has minimized the quality and quantity of interpersonal relationships through the dismantling of groups, social isolation, and teamwork reduction. There emerged unusual social conducts that are a negative parameter of behaviors, such as the rise of self-sacrificial conduct. With the rise of irrational social conduct, social stigma heightened the risk of delinquency, and individualistic conduct increased.

People have broken the jurisdictions of social capital as they recklessly dispose of their gloves and masks without protecting them. Due to the loss of jobs for food drivers whose assets are only their motorbikes, they engage in delinquency. Unemployment, poverty, the rising burden on societal resources have established a climate of hoarding and looting as people cannot purchase due to fear of infection (Jahromi and Kaveh). There is a climate of distrust due to government dishonesty and unreliable mass media, and hence people develop skepticism towards each other. COVID-19 has established generational, religious, social, and structural gaps that disorient the communities’ historical and cultural ceremonies due to minimized social convergence.

China has also not been free from the negative impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Chinese government implemented stringent policies such as a lockdown. As a result, numerous factors associated with youth social capital, such as interpersonal communication and social participation, underwent tremendous changes. For instance, even in the presence of social media platforms, face-to-face communication was crippled by the long duration of stay-at-home and social distancing recommendations. As a result, there have been changes in the social capital amongst the youths. Some of the changes may be adverse such as poor psychological status and excessive reaction to the lockdown. The youths encountered a decline in their CSC and ISC (Yu, Luo, and Zhou et al.). This was due to minimized social contact as social media platforms did not cater to the psychological demands of face-to-face communication and community engagement. There was reduced psychological development when the youths were together, and they participated in groups activities that stimulated innovations. Due to the lack of personal touch, the youths resulted in violent video games that are likely to result in violence in the future.

Works Cited

Alcorta Ludovico, Smits Jeroen, Swedlund Haley and Jong Eelke. The ‘Dark Side’ of Social Capital: A Cross-National Examination of the Relationship Between Social Capital and Violence in Africa. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/338784657_The_%27Dark_Side%27_of_Social_Capital_A_Cross National_Examination_of_the_Relationship_Between_Social_Capital_and_Violence_in_Africa. June 2020. Accessed December 11, 2021.

Jahromi Mohadeseh and Kaveh Mohammand. The Social Consequences of the Novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) Outbreak in Iran: Is Social Capital at Risk? A Qualitative Study. https://www.hindawi.com/journals/ipid/2021/5553859/#results. June 11, 2021. Accessed December 11, 2021.

Yu, Bin., Luo Miyang, and Zhous Junmin et al. Social Capital Changes After COVID-19 Lockdown Among Youths in China: COVID-19 Impact on Lifestyle Change Survey (COINLICS). https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2021.697068/full#h4. August 16, 2021. Accessed December 11, 2021.