What is the relationship between social capital and human capital?

3 Answers

Jeff Wright, Sociotechnology user / hacker

1.1k Views

It's probably a good idea to start with the differences between these ideas, before speculating on other relationships between them.

A followup question: How do social capital and human capital interact, in human affairs and as ideas?

"Social capital" and "Human capital" are terms representing complexes of ideas, attitudes, and assumptions about human beings and about economics. In a nutshell, Social Capital focuses on the Social and the Human, whileHuman Capital emphasizes the Capital.

The main difference is one of perspective:  

• Social capital is a term from Sociology, and focuses on the complex and often intangible values associated with human social relationships, and

• Human capital is a term from Economics, and focuses on the nature of human labor as a commodity and resource within the transactions of an economic system.

There are many different uses and variations of these terms, but I think it's fair to say that:

1. Compared to Human Capital, the term Social Capital has more of an individual-centered perspective, is more nuanced, and can be used to analyze the way that individual human lives might be improved.
2. Social Capital involves a much broader and more flexible conception of "value" compared to Human Capital.  It could include social advantages, reputation, "connections", mentoring, and other forms of support or influence that are associated with human relationships.
3. Social Capital is a more natural fit for the analysis of Social Networks andSocial Media.
4. Social Capital nevertheless has its  critics who say that the term degrades and over-simplifies the study of  human relationships, or biases them towards being seen simply as a  resource within economic process.
5. Both terms are used without much consideration of the consequences of merging sociological and economic ways of making sense of human activities.

The following definitions are from Wikipedia.  

Social capital

In sociology, social capital is the expected collective or economic benefits derived from the  preferential treatment and cooperation between individuals and groups.  Although different social sciences emphasize different aspects of social capital, they tend to share the core idea "thatsocial networks have value". Just as a screwdriver (physical capital) or a university education (cultural capital or human capital)  can increase productivity (both individual and collective), so do  social contacts affect the productivity of individuals and groups

Human capital

Human capital is the stock of competencies, knowledge, habits, social and personality attributes, including creativity, cognitive abilities, embodied in the ability to perform labor so as to produce economic value.  It is an aggregate economic view of the human being acting within  economies, which is an attempt to capture the social, biological,  cultural and psychological complexity as they interact in explicit  and/or economic transactions

See Also on Quora

• What is social capital?
• What are some good critiques of the idea of social capital?
• What is social capital? How can individuals build social capital using social networks, blogs, and crowd wisdom?
• What is human capital?  -- What is human capital?  (duplicate questions)

References

• Defining Social Capital (article)

  

Written 28 Jul, 2014 • View Upvotes

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Erik Davis • Request Bio

400 Views

GARY BECKER ON SOCIAL CAPITAL VS HUMAN CAPITAL

REGION: What is the relationship of social capital to human capital?
BECKER: I consider social capital to be a particular type of human capital. Human capital, so to speak, usually looks at a person. It is her knowledge, or her skills. Social capital looks at a person's link to other individuals. If I am involved in AA, I may be obligated to help members who are tempted to drink. In turn, I can call on them if I am having trouble with my alcohol consumption. That is an example of social capital. It is a form of human capital because it is part of me. However, it is very different from the skills I have as an educated person, or the training I have or the knowledge I have. Social capital involves a linkage among individuals. That is why it is "social." It is capital because it has some durability, where depreciation rate may be endogenous. Anyway, that is how I look at it.

Social economics is an important field that economists are beginning to discover. Our book makes only a small beginning. But my hope has been that this small beginning will encourage others to make bigger advances as they recognize the importance of this kind of capital. I do believe economists are still too enamored of the Robinson Crusoe economy. For a lot of problems we have to recognize that, as Aristotle said, man—and woman—is a social animal, and we must incorporate that into models of behavior.

Interview with Gary Becker

  

Written 7 May • View Upvotes

Marcus Williams • Request Bio

179 Views

Social and Human Capitol are quite interdependant. 
The values of each are highly influenced by eachother, and disregarding the complexity/controversy of the definitions of these concepts, social capital would be a subset of Human Capital.