SOCIAL CAPITAL REVISITED: CONCEPT AND MEASUREMENT

Abstract

The concept of social capital implies to the benefit of social relations for individuals and community. The complicated structure of social capital led the theoreticians to see it from varying aspects and forms, and the researchers to measure it in many different ways. Examining the existing studies in the literature, it is understood that while measuring social capital, a definition of the aspects and the level of analysis appropriate to the social capital theory that is employed is necessary. In this context, the researcher has to decide the level of the research and the theory that lays behind the necessary assumptions for the study. It is essential to consider both structural and cognitive aspects of social capital for its measurement. Regarding the data sources that are utilized in the existing empirical studies, time-use surveys provide a broad scale information that enable to investigate the structural aspect of social capital-which might be observed via objective methods, but it is limited for the cognitive aspect- which might be better observed via subjective methods. Hence, concertedly utilised quantitative and qualitative methods would provide the broadest and convenient data and information about social capital.