Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/5162

Title

Bonding, bridging and linking with social capital

Author(s)

Stone, Wendy

Abstract

'Social capital' is a concept that describes the extent and nature of relationships people have with others, the relationships people have with their communities, and relationships between people and various services, institutions and systems. It is also a concept that can be used to understand the linkages between communities or institutions. The concept of social capital has been directly linked to broader concepts such as social cohesion, democracy, economic wellbeing and sustainability. It is a concept that has attracted much policy and academic interest in Australia in recent years. Most recently, the concept has been adopted and developed in various capacity building and community development strategies, both nationally and internationally. Within this context, the aims of this paper are to: briefly to outline what social capital is; examine how different types of social capital are distributed among families and communities; describe how a focus on relationships can relate to capacity building, using examples; and describe some of the principles involved in relationship building in working with families and communities.

Publication type

Journal article

Source

Stronger Families Learning Exchange Bulletin, No. 4 (2003), p. 13-16

Publication year

2003

Publisher

Australian Institute of Family Studies

ISSN

1446-8549

Publisher URL

http://www.aifs.gov.au/sf/pubs/bull4/ws.html

Copyright

© Australian Institute of Family Studies