Table of Contents
Definition of Social Capital
(noun) The social networks or connections that an individual has available to them due group membership.
Etymology of Social Capital
- Coined by Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2003).
Social Capital Pronunciation
Syllabification: so·cial cap·i·tal
Audio Pronunciation
Phonetic Spelling
- American English – /sOH-shuhl kAp-uht-l/
- British English – /sOH-shuhl kAp-itl/
International Phonetic Alphabet
- American English – /ˈsoʊʃəl ˈkæpətəl/
- British English – /ˈsəʊʃəl ˈkæpɪtl/
Usage Notes
- Plural: social capitals
- Nepotism is a manifestation of social capital.
Related Videos
Additional Information
- Word origin of “social” and “capital” – Online Etymology Dictionary: etymonline.com
- Bourdieu, Pierre. 1986. “The Forms of Capital.” In Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, edited by J. G. Richardson. New York: Greenwood.
Related Terms
- anticipatory socialization
- capitalism
- discrimination
- group
- economics
- institution
- meritocracy
- peer group
- relationship
- social network
Works Consulted
Clarke, Alan. 2010. The Sociology of Healthcare. 2nd ed. Harlow, England: Longman.
Dillon, Michele. 2014. Introduction to Sociological Theory: Theorists, Concepts, and their Applicability to the Twenty-first Century. 2nd ed. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Marsh, Ian, and Mike Keating, eds. 2006. Sociology: Making Sense of Society. 3rd ed. Harlow, England: Pearson Education.
Oxford University Press. (N.d.) Oxford Dictionaries. (https://www.oxforddictionaries.com/).
Ritzer, George, and J. Michael Ryan, eds. 2011. The Concise Encyclopedia of Sociology. Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell.
Schaefer, Richard. 2013. Sociology: A Brief Introduction. 10th ed. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Taylor & Francis. (N.d.) Routledge Handbooks Online. (https://www.routledgehandbooks.com/).
Thorpe, Christopher, Chris Yuill, Mitchell Hobbs, Sarah Tomley, and Marcus Weeks. 2015. The Sociology Book: Big Ideas Simply Explained. London: Dorling Kindersley.
Turner, Bryan S., ed. 2006. The Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wikipedia contributors. (N.d.) Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation. (https://en.wikipedia.org/).
Wiley. (N.d.) Wiley Online Library. (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/).
Cite the Definition of Social Capital
ASA – American Sociological Association (5th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2016. “social capital.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Retrieved September 17, 2024 (https://sociologydictionary.org/social-capital/).
APA – American Psychological Association (6th edition)
social capital. (2016). In K. Bell (Ed.), Open education sociology dictionary. Retrieved from https://sociologydictionary.org/social-capital/
Chicago/Turabian: Author-Date – Chicago Manual of Style (16th edition)
Bell, Kenton, ed. 2016. “social capital.” In Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Accessed September 17, 2024. https://sociologydictionary.org/social-capital/.
MLA – Modern Language Association (7th edition)
“social capital.” Open Education Sociology Dictionary. Ed. Kenton Bell. 2016. Web. 17 Sep. 2024. <https://sociologydictionary.org/social-capital/>.