Social capital
Etymology
From "social" and the economic term "capital" (from Latin "caput," head, as in a head of cattle counted as wealth). The phrase was used by educator L.J. Hanifan in 1916 and later developed by sociologists Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman and popularized by Robert Putnam’s study of civic decline.
noun phrase · /SOH-shuhl KAP-i-tuhl/
The value embedded in a person’s or community’s network of relationships, trust, and norms of reciprocity.
What it names
Something intangible as an asset — the productive worth of who you know and how much people trust each other — bringing social ties into economic reasoning.
Example
The neighborhood’s dense social capital meant a lost dog was found within an hour through a chain of neighbors.
Related idea
Parallel to human capital, the skills and knowledge embodied in an individual; social capital lives not in any one person but in the connections between them, and it can only be drawn on through relationship. Compare cultural capital, the assets of taste and credential that confer status.