Social Capital, Health and Well-Being

It is important to provide some understanding of the interrelatedness of socio-economic growth and social capital.  In the literature, social capital has been identified as improving as well as explaining socio-economic outcomes and differences (across a wide spectrum of issues such as crime, education, health, income etc.).  Both at the aggregate (country) level, as well as individual level it has been widely showed that entities with higher or richer social capital (measured in various ways, but most generally as trust, reciprocity or common values) perform better.  This idea, although appealing, escapes a missing link between social capital and the socio-economic outcomes.  Health or wellbeing is an important channel through which social capital could improve socio-economic growth.  It cannot be overstated that healthier people are more successful/productive in terms of their educational performances or earning abilities and how this can impinge on their overall socio-economic status and also contribute positively to the wellbeing of the nations.

It is a fact that people in some places are happier or have better health than people in other places.  This is arguably, not just because of their genetic vulnerability but also because of the physical environment and their socioeconomic status.  It also reflects the fabric of society – the way in which communities are set up and people live. Correlations between social capital and health outcomes have been researched and there is good evidence that more socially cohesive societies are healthier and have lower mortality (Kawachi et al., 1996; Putnam, 2001; Woolcock, 2001).  Although the mechanisms through which this social capital is beneficial to health are not clearly delineated, social networks are believed to promote better health education, better access to health services, informal caring and enforcing or changing societal norms that impact on public health.

The idea is that social capital has a positive effect on the health status of individuals – when people live in areas with a larger extent of social networks and have high norms, they are likely to be happier and healthier. In terms of mental health, little work has been done to specifically explore how it may interface with social capital, although this body of knowledge is growing (e.g., Cullen & Whiteford, 2001).

Although the concept has attracted multiple definitions, researchers have made the case for two distinct types of social capital rather than one unified concept (Webber and Huxley, 2007; 2004).  The communitarian conceptual approach to social capital, derived from the work of political scientist Robert Putnam (1993) sees social capital as a ‘public good’ arising from participation in civic activities, mutually beneficial norms of reciprocity and the trust people place in other members of the community. On the other hand, the neo-capital approach, (predominantly derived from social network analysis) follows from sociologists such as Pierre Bourdieu (1986) and Nan Lin (2001) who define social capital as “investment in social relations by individuals through which they gain access to embedded resources to enhance expected returns of instrumental or expressive actions” (Lin, 1999).  This approach thus maintains a focus on social structure whilst mostly using the individual as the unit of analysis and therefore is more dynamic in nature.

We plan to use several waves of European Social Survey data to construct the appropriate social capital measures and investigate their independent impact on the (mental) health outcomes for the UK and Wales.  In line with the existing research described above, (which distinguishes the two schools of thought on social capital), our aim is to include variables that are representative of the two approaches to see if there is more evidence for one or the other in terms of impacting upon mental health and wellbeing.

Mamata Parhi and various colleagues in the College of Human and Health Sciences, Swansea University, are involved in this research project.

Related WISERD Publications

Jones M, Blackaby D, Murphy P, 2010, ‘An Investigation into Regional Differences in Child health and Cognitive Function’ An Investigation into Regional Differences in Child health and Cognitive Function (A report to the The Welsh Government) (Available here)

Jones M, Blackaby D, Murphy P, 2011, ‘Childhood Obesity in Wales’ The Welsh Economic Review 22(Spring) pp 36-42 (Available here)

Davies R, Harrison E, Owen D, Sibley E, Wilkins C, 2011, ‘Quality of life in ethnic neighbourhoods in Europe’ (A report to European Foundation for the improvement of Living and Working Conditions) (Available here)

For further information, contact:  m.parhi@swansea.ac.uk