Sociaal kapitaal en gezondheid: een overzicht van de recente onderzoeksliteratuur

Abstract

This article is the result of a literature study which brings together the different conceptual approaches of social capital in relation to health and places them in a larger historical perspective. Since the middle of the twentieth century, epidemiologists and sociologists associate the social environment in an increasingly broader sense to the health of people. While there used to be only attention to the social support of individual relations, awareness grew since the 1990s that also the broader social capital of a community, consisting of social networks and shared norms such as trust and reciprocity, can have an effect on health through several psychosocial pathways. To date, there is no consensus on the aggregation level were the health benefits of social capital exist: the collective or the individual level? Recent studies trying to combine both approaches conclude that the individual level is most important. The article closes with some suggestions for future research and policy.