Two Faces of Social Capital in Structural Trends: Bonding and Bridging
Two Faces of Social Capital in Structural Trends: Bonding and Bridging

Author(s): Slobodan M. Miladinović
Subject(s): Politics / Political Sciences, Anthropology, Sociology
Published by: Institut za filozofiju i društvenu teoriju
Keywords: social capital; social power; social structure; discrimination
Summary/Abstract: Social capital can be analyzed from several different points of view. One of them involves the distinction between bonding and bridging. This distinction differentiates between social networks which bind together those who have some similar characteristics, created in order to protect their particular interests, and social networks which connect people with different social characteristics bridging their differences and creating a net of stakeholders able to solve specific problems of wider social significance. A major feature of the former type is exclusion and of the latter inclusion. This means that the former can have a negative social impact, if observed at the level of social structure, because it homogenizes and closes the ranks of a group while excluding those who do not belong. On the other hand, the social effect of the second type could be positive, because it builds trust between members of different groups. On the basis of these differences it can be assumed that social capital essentially carries the potential for overall development, but also the potential for social pathologies, such as discrimination, nepotism, corruption, organized crime and the like. The aim of this paper is to highlight the possible negative dimension of social capital that has especially come to the fore in societies with closed social structure and an incomplete legal system, societies beset by development problems, high concentration and centralization in the distribution of social power and generally, societies that are going through some kind of transition.

• Details
• Contents