Social Capital

The idea of social capital is highly relevant to an examination of the social impacts of immigration. 'Social capital' refers to the relations of trust, cooperation and mutual aid that are fostered by 'norms and networks of civic engagement' and which provide the vital underpinnings of effective government, productive economies, productive diversity, healthy populations and socially cohesive communities (Putnam 2000). One of the crucial characteristics of social capital is its transferability. Social capital is deemed to be transferable to the extent that the networks, norms and trust built on the basis of one common purpose can be used for another. Another feature of social capital is that it can generate unintended effects. This is called an externality. These third party effects can be positive when the social connectedness generated by one activity can make other social interactions easier. They can also be negative when social divisiveness and an erosion of social capital can lead to friction within a community. Above all, the impact of social capital has a distinct spatial field of operation, with the intensity of the effect tapering away as distance from the activity in question increases (Pinch 1985).