Social capital is a concept that is intriguing to me. It is not only a mode of interconnectedness between an individual and his or her community, but it has broad spanning implications for the overall sustainability of a community. When social capital increases, social utility (or happiness) increases, people feel connected to their neighbours and to their society, people gain a sense of place or belonging, and they become able to build a shared vision for their community. If this concept is connected with sustainable development, you have the potential for the creation of sustainable communities.
I am fairly connected to the community that I live in. I am not involved in local government, by attending town hall meetings, or such civic events. However, I do vote in Federal and Provincial elections, I have worked for Election’s Canada on several instances, and I do on occasion, write to my MP to voice my opinions and concerns about Canadian policy. In these ways I am vertically connected to my municipal, Provincial and Federal governments. In addition, I have several friends who work in government, and so remain connected through them. So, these friendships contain both bonding and bridging capital.
In terms of connectedness to my neighbourhood, I know quite a few of my neighbours. This leads to a feeling of safety, as I know that my neighbours are looking out for me as I am for them. When issues arise in our neighbourhood, I know that I will be informed and have a say in how we deal with them. Relationships with my neighbours fall in the bonding category, as they lead to a sense of trust and security within my neighbourhood. Although I do not know my neighbours well, we have a sense of community and often members will help each other out. For example, one neighbour might mow another’s lawn, allow another to store something on their property, help another to mend their fence, or allow another to pick fruit off of their trees. These exchanges help to foster a sense of connectedness and closeness.
At university, I am connected to students, and faculty. These relationships have bonding, bridging, and vertical characteristics. By bridging the gap between the university and outside organizations, faculty facilitate the exchange of knowledge and create connectedness. This is especially true of our major project work with outside organizations within the greater Victoria community. In turn, these outside organizations may provide bridging between themselves and regional, Provincial, and Federal governments, as well as other organizations. Some of the connections between the university and outside organizations may be vertical, if the organizations are a part of the government. My cohort students have bonding characteristics - as close friendships are developed between us - but may also provide bridging between ourselves and other networks of their friends and organizations that they are involved in. The university also provides bridging between the students and outside clubs, such as Toastmasters, which is an international club containing members from a multitude of walks of life, again expanding the possibility of creating bonding and bridging relationships between these people and their networks.
I am involved in a knitting group that I helped to found in 2006. This group attracts many different types of individuals. Friendships form, which increase bonding capital. Some of the members work in government, or other outside organizations, leading to bridging capital.
My networks illustrate all of the components of social capital in that they contain shared norms, networks and nodes.
Norms: Norms are the shared standards of any community. They represent what people consider to be socially acceptable, or “normal”. My networks follow norms, as they are primarily located in Canada, so there is a shared standard of normal relating to how we interact with each other: what we consider to be polite (in speech, gestures, personal space, etc.) and what we consider to be rude. Because we share these norms, we are able to communicate with each other and understand the other’s intentions. A large portion of my network is located in Victoria, which makes connecting with each other easy. We have a shared set of norms, specific to Victoria, some of which are unique to this city. Some of these include phrases, or colloquialisms which have distinct meaning in Victoria that are meaningless or have different meaning elsewhere. Norms in Victoria also include a casual style of dress, which is appropriate for the workplace here, but may not be the case in other cities in Canada or elsewhere in the world.
Networks: In terms of my social network, I am very connected. The diagram below illustrates my social network. It does not show the complete connectedness between the members and nodes within my network, because the diagram would be too large!
Nodes: Some of the nodes present in my social capital are the organizations and groups that I am a part of, which connect me to other networks and nodes, and allow an exchange of ideas, knowledge and communication. They also provide connectedness between me and other individuals and organizations.
For example, I am a university student. At university I am in contact with professors, who not only directly exchange ideas and knowledge with me, but also work with outside organizations or have research which is separate from their teaching. Through them, I am connected to those outside organizations, and the potential to connect to those nodes exists.
I am also a member of a Toastmasters club. Through this club, I am connected to other local members: individuals from many diverse careers. They are all part of their own networks, which I may tap into and become connected to. Through Toastmasters, I am also connected to an international network of individuals who are also a part of this organization.
My networks increase my sustainability. For example, through my university I have friends that I carpool to school with. So, my ecological footprint is decreased and my sustainability increased. Likewise, my university is providing me with an education in environmental science, so that I may make a career out of environmental sustainability. Through friends from school and the university, I am learning about various methods of becoming more sustainable, such as how to compost. I can take this information away with me and use it in my own life or share it with friends and neighbours. By maintaining an intricate network of friends, my personal resiliency is high. I know I will always have a roof over my head and food to eat, because of these connections. Likewise, these people know that I will help them if the need arises.
Connectedness fosters personal sustainability, in that it allows people to go places together - saving on carbon emissions, in the case of my carpool - to share knowledge and experience through trusting relationships. It allows people to connect to outside organizations and policy makers which in turn allows their voices to be heard. By fostering diverse networks, I can form relationships built on trust, wherein I may be able to share my knowledge and passion for sustainability and perhaps influence their opinions and actions.
When I leave university and begin my career in the environmental sector, these connections may help me to garner support from my community for sustainability initiatives. My connections with people working in government and other community organizations may allow me to voice my opinions and have my ideas shared, perhaps with tangible change being generated. By fostering relationships with my neighbours, they may trust me enough to listen when I suggest neighbourhood initiatives, such as community gardening or shared organic composting. Overall, the creation of a sustainable community does not take only one person, it takes a community. By creating social capital networks between people and organizations within a community you begin to foster engagement between members of that community, build trusting relationships, gain co-operation and participation between members, form new norms relating to environmental sustainability, enable the exchange of knowledge, and create a shared vision for a more sustainable community.
Top Image Retrieved from http://www.canada.com/technology/Census+Victoria+population+growth+lags+western+trend/6119744/story.html
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