Social capital

It seems to be that nowadays public relations theories suggest more and more not organisation-centered communications. In last post I was talking about identifying and dealing with issue arenas, instead of stakeholders and organizations. In this post I would like to talk about social capital which also suggests more two-way symmetrical relations.

Social capital is just like financial or human capital. If financial capital is money, which is a bit easier to define, then social capital is connections among individuals and groups.

According to Putman's theories, people who are associated in some groups are more trusting, politically more active and communicate with their neighbours more. He thinks that social capital helps people get more we-feeling, stay healthy and trusting. He even says that social capital affects more than relations between individuals and groups, it changes the whole society. The stronger the social capital, the better society.

I agree with him in that theory. I guess that we-feeling and belonging to somewhere really helps people to be trusting and more active. It is obviously good for confidence.

Social capital is very important for reputation. Good social capital means strong networks, which "amplify information about the trustworthiness of individuals or organizations; that is, their reputation." (On Putnam, 235). It makes clearer how it is related to public relations. If organization has a good social capital, it is much easier for it to work properly and have a good reputation among other organizations and individuals.

Sources:
R.D.Putman: Bowling alone: America's Declining Social Capital
Luoma-Aho: On Putman: Bowling together-Applying Putnam's Theories of Community and Social Capital to Public Relations