TY - JOUR
T1 - Building ties
T2 - Social capital network analysis of a forest community in a biosphere reserve in Chiapas, Mexico
AU - García-Amado, Luis Rico
AU - Pérez, Manuel Ruiz
AU - Iniesta-Arandia, Irene
AU - Dahringer, Guillaume
AU - Reyes, Felipe
AU - Barrasa, Sara
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2012/9
Y1 - 2012/9
N2 - Governance of the commons depends on the capacity to generate collective action. Networks and rules that foster that collective action have been defined as social capital. However, their causal link is still not fully understood. We use social network analysis to assess social capital, decision-making, and collective action in a forest-based common pool resource management in La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve (Chiapas, Mexico). Our research analyzes the productive networks and the evolution of coffee groups in one community. The network shows some centrality, with richer landholders tending to occupy core positions and poorer landless peasants occupying peripheral ones. This has fostered the community's environmentally oriented development but has also caused internal conflicts. Market requirements have shaped different but complementary productive networks, where organic coffee commercialization is the main source of bridging ties, which has resulted in more connectivity and resilience. Conservation attitudes, along with the institutional setting of the community, have promoted collective action. The unresolved conflicts, however, still leave some concerns about governance in the future.
AB - Governance of the commons depends on the capacity to generate collective action. Networks and rules that foster that collective action have been defined as social capital. However, their causal link is still not fully understood. We use social network analysis to assess social capital, decision-making, and collective action in a forest-based common pool resource management in La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve (Chiapas, Mexico). Our research analyzes the productive networks and the evolution of coffee groups in one community. The network shows some centrality, with richer landholders tending to occupy core positions and poorer landless peasants occupying peripheral ones. This has fostered the community's environmentally oriented development but has also caused internal conflicts. Market requirements have shaped different but complementary productive networks, where organic coffee commercialization is the main source of bridging ties, which has resulted in more connectivity and resilience. Conservation attitudes, along with the institutional setting of the community, have promoted collective action. The unresolved conflicts, however, still leave some concerns about governance in the future.
KW - Collective action
KW - Community forest management
KW - Ejido
KW - Mexico
KW - Social capital
KW - Social network analysis
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84867135478&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84867135478
VL - 17
JO - Ecology and Society
JF - Ecology and Society
SN - 1708-3087
IS - 3
ER -