Measuring Social Capital in Five Communities

TLDR

Social capital is framed as participation in networks, reciprocity, trust, social norms, the commons, and social agency, building on Coleman and Putnam. This article develops an empirically grounded definition of social capital. The authors created a 68‑item questionnaire, administered it to about 1,200 adults across five Australian communities, and used hierarchical factor analysis to uncover one general factor and eight specific factors explaining 49 % of the variance. The analysis revealed three specific factors—community participation, agency, and trust—and found significant differences among the five communities in both general and specific social capital levels.

Abstract

This article develops an empirically grounded definition of social capital. Drawing on the work of Coleman and Putnam and others, the article discusses social capital in terms of participation in networks, reciprocity, trust, social norms, the commons, and social agency. Potential items to measure these elements were developed in an empirical study. A questionnaire containing 68 potential items was administered to approximately 1,200 adults in five Australian communities: two rural communities, two outer metropolitan areas, and one inner-city area of Sydney. The responses were subjected to extensive statistical analysis involving a hierarchical factor analysis, which identified a single general underlying factor and eight orthogonal specific factors, accounting for 49% of the variance. Three of the specific factors identified were community participation, agency, and trust. The five communities differed significantly in terms of the general and specific factors.