social capital

Networks together with shared norms, values and understandings that facilitate cooperation within or among groups.

or

Networks of relationships among people who live and work in a society, enabling that society to function effectively.

Comment

The three main forms of social capital are:

  • bonds: links to people based on a sense of common identity – such as family, close friends and people who share our culture or ethnicity;
  • bridges: links that stretch beyond a shared sense of identity, for example to distant friends, colleagues and associates;
  • inkages: links to people or groups further up or lower down the social ladder.
Source

OECD, 2007b; Lexico, 2022.

Related term(s)
human capital
social cohesion
social inclusion
social integration