Toward a Unified Conceptualization of Social Capital

Social capital is among the most broadly used concepts in social science. Despite its shared understanding as beneficial resources available from the connections between people, authors vary widely in their conceptualizations of social capital. To extract clarity from these disparate perspectives, we offer a systematic framework for conceptualizing social capital, which identifies three primary theoretical dimensions of scholars’ conceptualizations of social capital: (1) where beneficial resources reside, ranging from within individuals to the relationships between individuals, (2) beneficial network structure, differentiating closure from brokerage arrangements, and (3) the level to which rewards accrue, distinguishing individual from collective benefits. We illustrate how combining these dimensions produces a unifying perspective that fosters reintegrating social capital’s disconnected conceptualizations. Finally, we draw on this framework to both reconcile seeming contradictions and gaps in social capital scholarship and provide a principled means for prioritizing questions for future developments of social capital.