SECOND OPINION:Deteriorating social capital is evident in the UK riots, writes JACKY JONES
THE CAUSES of the English riots have been variously identified as absentee fathers, boredom, idle youths and criminality. So far not many have blamed social capital. The interesting thing about social capital is that, not only has it been associated with rioting and criminality, it has also been identified as an important determinant of health by agencies such as the OECD and the WHO.
Social capital refers to the patterns and quality of networks between individuals and society. Imagine it as a dense mesh of connections that invade every crevice and cranny of human life.
The World Bank defines it as the relationships that shape societal interactions and the glue that holds it all together. Social capital originates from, and creates, a sense of belonging, civic participation and linkages to the communities in which people live.
Measures of social capital include, among other things, trust, newspaper readership, membership of clubs, fraudulent benefit claims and crime rates. Most studies agree that levels of trust and mistrust in society are the most important factors that build and erode social capital. High trust increases creativity and critical thinking, meaning communities feel empowered to solve their own problems. Mistrust leads to a vicious cycle of suspicion, cynicism and disillusionment, leading to the disintegration of communities.
An OECD report from 2001, The Wellbeing of Nations, shows that the percentage of people who believe most people can be trusted varies greatly from country to country, with Norway recording 65 per cent, Ireland, 47 per cent, the UK, 31 per cent and Turkey 6 per cent.
There are three different kinds of social capital: bonding, bridging and linking. These have to be carefully balanced if society is to function effectively. Bonding refers to the networks that exist among “people like us” or people who share the same values. Bridging social capital is the relationships with “people not like us”, such as those from different faith or ethnic groups. Linking refers to networks with those who have power such as government departments and the private sector. Broken societies can result unless all types of social capital are present in roughly equal amounts.
Bonding without bridging and linking can lead to isolated parochial groups that exclude others and restrict members’ behaviour, such as happens in religious sects and criminal gangs. In extreme cases bonding can lead to terrorism and ethnic cleansing. The OECD refers to this as the “ties that bind turn into ties that blind”.
Bridging social capital refers to the vertical links that go up and down the social ladder. John Stewart Mill noted the importance of these networks in the 19th century: “It is hardly possible to overrate the value . . . of placing human beings in contact with persons dissimilar to themselves and with modes of thought and action unlike those with which they are familiar . . . Such communication has always been, and is peculiarly in the present age, one of the primary sources of progress.”
Choirs and bowling clubs are examples of bridging networks given by Robert Putnam. Linking social capital refers to the networks people use to leverage resources from powerful institutions for the benefit of individuals and society as a whole, such as the grants given by the HSE to voluntary groups each year.
There is extensive evidence from many agencies that social capital protects health. It also lowers rates of child abuse and leads to safer neighbourhoods. Two-thirds of the variation in crime rates between countries can be accounted for by social capital measures such as self-interest and mistrust. The Institute of Public Health, in its 2004 Inequalities in Perceived Health report, showed that social capital influences health, with mental health being the most powerfully affected. This study found that people who do not trust their neighbours are 42 per cent less likely to have a high mental-health score than those who do and 25 per cent less likely to report good general health.
It would be interesting to measure Ireland’s social capital in 2011. I suspect bonding has increased considerably whereas bridging and linking social capital has decreased because of the growing mistrust of citizens. This is a bad omen for the future health of the nation. Unless all sectors invest in the rebuilding of social capital it is only a matter of time before we have riots here too and, more importantly, poorer health.
Dr Jacky Jones is a former regional manager of health promotion with the HSE