Torsello, Davide - Pappová, Melinda: Social Networks in Movement. Time, interaction and interethnic spaces in Central Eastern Europe - Nostra Tempora 8. (Somorja-Dunaszerdahely, 2003)
Aknowledgement
Social networks and social capital 15 Social networks and social capital Claire Wallace Social networks have long been a source of study in sociology, but have enjoyed recent interest as a result of the discussions about social capital. Social capital could be said to be the investment in social networks, investment that can bring returns in terms of reducing risk (Wallace, Schmulyar and Bezir 1999), improving health (Wilkinson 1996) assisting economic growth (Knack and Keefer 1997), and political stability (through encouraging trust) (Putnam 2000), reducing crime and even improving education results (Coleman 1988). Social capital is therefore seen as an important element of economic development and the World Bank have devoted a whole website to discussions about it. Social capital is really about social networking. In the words of Nan Lin, social capital is: "...investment in social relations with expected returns... Individuals engage in interaction and networking in order to produce profits” (Lin 2001:6). He goes on to argue that social capital is effective because it provides information to market actors, it can be used to influence other actors, it provides a form of social credentials promoting trust and it can operate as a form of social psychological reinforcement. This view of social networks is a highly instrumental one. The assumption is that people make rationalistic decisions about investing in friends in the same way that they do in investing in stocks and shares: to reap long term dividends. Undoubtedly, some social networks are created and maintained in this way but this ignores the fact that there might also be other sorts of reasons for creating and maintaining social networks. It also assumes that the benefits can only be positive. However, social capital is used in a number of different senses in the literature. Following Putnam (1994), social cap-
