Sociology 291

4-3-06

Spring, 2006

Social Capital
I. Introduction
A. Description of the Seminar Social capital consists of normatively regulated social relationships that permit longterm reciprocity and mutual trust. Interest in social capital has rapidly increased in all the social sciences in the last 15 years. The concepts applicability is vast. It has already been applied to health, education, social stratification, economic action, urban planning, political community and voting, and so forth. However, possibly because of the hyperrapid growth of interest in the topic, users of the term are not always clear about how social capital can best be applied, nor are they aware of what critics declare the lamentable potential for stretching the concept beyond suitable limits. Students have some exposure to social capital before they start this course. Indeed, without that exposure, they would have no idea what the words mean nor any interest in the topic. This graduate seminar intends to expose already savvy students to the emerging core literature on the topic of social capital while providing them an opportunity to branch out on their own into literatures of special interest and relevance to themselves. Parts I and II of the course basically consist of reading and discussing Halperns recent, excellent textbook on social capital as well as Lins earlier and more specialized textbook. Then part III consists of independently researching the literature on topics of special interest, reporting on them in class, and preparing a term paper that critically reviews the literature you have uncovered. The purpose of this course is to enable students to broaden their appreciation of social capital, and to explore the possibility of developing a serious research interest in some aspect of the topic.

B. Administrative Details Instructor: Office Hours: Office: Telephone: Email address: Class meetings: Classroom: Ivan Light, Professor TBA Haines Hall 255 825-4229 and 825-1313 (messages) light@soc.ucla.edu Tuesdays, 2:00 to 4:50 pm Rolfe 3131

II. Required Readings

REQUISITION 207162, 3-3-06

Coleman, James S. Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital. American Journal of Sociology 94/Supplement (1988): S95-S120. Halpern, David. Social Capital. London: Polity, 2005, chs 1-9. This is our textbook. Light, Ivan, ed. Reader for Sociology 291, Spring 2005. Produced by Course Reader Materials. Contents:
De Tocqueville, Alexis. Democracy in America. Jacobs, Jane. Death and Life of Great American Cities Light, Ivan. Ethnic Enterprise in America. (University of California, 1972), chs 2 3.

Lin, Nan. Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action by Nan Lin. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2001, chapters 1 and 2. Lins concept of social capital is narrower than Halperns.

III. Readings by Topic and in Sequence

Part I April 4 1. 2:00 to 3:15 2. 3:30 to 4:45 April 11 3. 2:00 to 3:15 4. 3:30 to 4:45 April 18 5. 2:00 to 3:15 6. 3:30 to 4:45 April 25 7. 2:00 to 3:15 8. 3:30 to 4:45

Instructors Introduction illustration: rotating credit and savings associations

Other explanations using SC: Coleman; Jacobs; de Tocqueville Lin, Theories of Capital, Ch. 1

Halpern. Ch. 1 Halpern, ch. 2

Halpern, ch. 3 Halpern, ch. 4

May 2 9. 2:00 to 3:15 10. 3:30 to 4:45 Part II May 9 11. 2:00 to 3:15

Halpern, ch. 5 Halpern, ch. 6

Halpern, ch. 7

12. 3:30 to 4:45 May 16 13. 2:00 to 3:15 14. 3:30 to 4:45 Part III May23 15. 2:00 to 3:15 16. 3:30 to 4:45 May 30 17. 2:00 to 3:15 18. 3:30 to 4:45 June 6 19. 2:00 to 3:15 20. 3:30 to 4:45

Halpern, ch. 8

Halpern,. Ch. 9 Lin, Social Capital, Ch. 2

Oral presentations Oral presentations

Oral presentations Oral presentations

Oral presentations Oral presentations

IV. Written Work and Grading

Students write two take-home examinations. The first covers Part I; the second covers Part II. Part I also includes Lin, chapter 1; and Part II also includes Lin, chapter 2. The instructor will provide a single topical question for Part I exam on May 2 in class; it will be due May 9 in class. The single, topical exam question for part II will be provided in class on May 16, and will be due May 23. The take-home examinations are essay format, and should not exceed 5 typed pages in length each. In part III, students will write a term paper on a topic of their choosing that is related to social capital. In general, this term paper is a review of existing literature that includes your conclusions about what now needs to be done. For example, one might write a review of the literature on social capital and education, offering a concluding evaluation of what is the promise of social capital to date in this field, and what should now be done. In general, preparing these term papers will require students to do some independent bibliographic work on their own. Happily, with the many efficient search engines now out there (try google.scholar) this task is easier than it used to be. If a student has a specialized research topic on which he or she wishes to write, then this special topic can provide the term paper rather than a review of literature. Nonetheless, to facilitate your search for a term paper topic, I have suggested several easily prepared term papers. They are easy because the readings are readily available. For example, a term paper on Putnam and his critics is easy to prepare because Putnams many critics have conveniently published a book. Conversely, a term paper on, say, social capital in the nursing profession would require a student to undertake more independent research to access the literature, to read it, and then to evaluate it.

Students will make a class presentation based on their term paper research. In so doing, they will be presenting their independent research to people who understand social capital, but are less informed or even uninformed about the specific application they are making. The advantages of this procedure are two: your classmates learn about your specific application, broadening our knowledge, and you obtain the informed criticism of people who understand social capital. Everyone benefits. These critical reviews are due on the last day of class, June 6, or before. They should not exceed 20 pages in length, exclusive of bibliography. The purpose of the term paper is to enable students to undertake semi-independent research on a social capital topic of interest specifically to them in the expectation that they may wish later to follow up on this preliminary access with a larger research project.

May 2 Take-Home on Part I due May 9 5 pages = 1500 words May 16 Take-Home on Part II due May 23 3 pages = 1200 words June 06 Term paper due in class 20 pp. max. excluding references = 6000 words Grading Part I exam Part II exam Term paper Oral Segment Attendance Total 100 points 25 15 50 05 05 points points points points points

96-100 93-95 91-92 88-90 80-87

A+ A AB+ B

V. List of Term Papers and Suggested Readings

These lists are suggested starting places. You need not stop here, nor need you include everything. Its up to you. The list is intended to assist you to find the literature you need to review. I have put the obvious books on sale as not required and you can obtain them that way if you wish.

# 1 Theoretical Critique of Social Capital

Baron, Stephen, John Field, and Tom Schullar, eds. Social Capital: Critical Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University, 2000. Schuller, Tom, Stephen Baron, and John Field. Social Capital: Review and Critique. Ch. 1
Paterson, Lindsay. Civil Society and Democratic Renewal. Ch. 2 Szreter, Simon. Social Capital, the Economy, and Education in Historical Perspective. Ch. 3 Fine, Ben and Francis Green. Economics, Social Capital, and the Colonization of the Social Sciences. Ch. 4 Fevre, Ralph. Socializing Social Capital: Identity, the Transition to Work and Economic Development. Ch. 5 Maskell, Peter. Social Capital, Innovation, and Competitiveness. Ch. 6 Loizos, Peter. Are Refugees Social Capitalists? Ch. 7 Lauglo, John. Social Capital Trumping Class and Cultural Capital? Engagement with School among Immigrant Youth. Ch. 8 Munn, Pamela. Socail Capital, Schools, and Exclusions. Ch. 9 Campbell, Catherine. Social Capital and Health. Contextualizing Health Promotion within Local Community Networks. Ch. 10 Macgillivray, Alex, and Perry Walker. Local Social Capital: Making It Work on the Ground. Ch. 11 Maloney, William A., Graham Smith, and Gerry Stoker. Social Capital and Associational Life. Ch 12 Brown, Philip and Hugh Lauder. Human Capital, Social Capital and Collective Intelligence. Ch. 13 Field, John, Tom Schuller, and Stephen Baroon. Social Capital and Human Capital Revisited. Ch. 14

Misztal, Barbara A. Trust in Modern Societies: The Search for the Bases of Social Order. London: Polity Press, 1996 Bourdieu, Pierre. The Forms of Capital Pp. 24-248 in Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education, edited by J. Richardson. NY: Greenwood, 1986. Portes, Alejandro. Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology. Annual Review of Sociology 24 (1998): 1-24.

#2 Putnam and his Critics

Putnam, Robert D. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000 McLean, Scott L., David A. Schultz, and Manfred B. Steger. Social Capital: Critical Perspectives on Community and Bowling Alone. New York: New York University, 2002. Political Science debate on Putnam. Requires you to have read Putnam already.

# 4 Community Studies
5

Krishna, Anirudh. Active Social Capital: Tracing the Roots of Development and Democracy. New York: Columbia University, 2002 Small, Mario Luis. Villa Victoria: The Transformation of Social Capital in a Boston Barrio. Chicago: University of Chicago, 2004.

# 5 Urban Planning and Social Capital

Hutchinson, Judy, ed. Using Social Capital to Help Integrate Planning Theory, Research, and Practice. Journal of the American Planning Association vol. 70, (2) 2004.
This is a special issue on social capital. Read articles by Light, Briggs, Rohe, Vidal, Hutchinson, which contain extensive additional bibliography.

# 6 Nan Lin
Lin, Nan. Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action by Nan Lin. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2001 Lin, Nan, Karen Cook, and Ronald S. Burt eds. Social Capital: Theory and Research. NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 2001.

# 7 Social Capital and Migration

Light, Ivan. Deflecting Migration: Networks, Markets, and Regulation in Los Angeles, by Ivan Light. NY: Russell Sage Foundation, 2006. Instructor provides your free copy.
Bibliography can be obtained inside this book, esp. in chapters 1 and 2.

# 8 Historical Studies of Social Capital

Rotberg, Robert I, ed. Patterns of Social Capital: Stability and Change in Historical Perspective. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2001

#8 Social Capital and Ethnic Economies

Light, Ivan, and Stephen Gold. Ethnic Economies. San Diego: Academic, 2000

VI. Other Books and Articles about Social Capital

Friendship Putnam, Robert. Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community. New York: Simon and Schuster, 2000. This highly influential book is essential reading even
though many disagree with many of the authors somewhat inflated conclusions.

Organizations Katinka Bijlsma-Frankema and Ann Cristina Costa. Understanding the Trust-Control Nexus. 2005. International Sociology vol. 20, no. 5, pp. 259-283. This article summarizes a special issue devoted to trust-control nexus in organizations e.g. the more trust, the less control, and vice-versa. Historical Methodology Gerald Gamm and Robert D. Putnam. 2001. The Growth of Voluntary Associations in America, 1840-1940. Pp. 173-219 in Patterns of Social Capital: Stability and Change in Historical Perspective, ed. By Robert I. Rotberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Education Claudia Goldin and Lawrence F. Katz. The Rise of Secondary Schooling in America, 1910-1940. Pp. 295-336 in Patterns of Social Capital: Stability and Change in Historical Perspective, ed. By Robert I. Rotberg. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Economic Sociology Woolcock, Michael. 1998. "Social Capital and Economic Development: Toward a Theoretical Synthesis and Policy Framework." Theory and Society 27: 151-208. Social Networks Methodology Lin, Nan, Yang-chi Fu, and Ray-May Hsung. The position generator: Measurement techniques for investigations of social capital. Ch. 3 in Social Capital: Theory and Research, edited by Nan Lin, Karen Cook, and Ronald S. Burt.

End