Rural Living: Building Social Capital to Strengthen Communities

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Rural Living Building Social Capital to
Strengthen Communities

• (Presenter name)
• North Dakota State University Extension Service

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Objectives

• Develop a better understanding of the concept of
  social capital
• Identify social capital in your own lives and
  communities and understand how it applies to
  rural living
• Determine ways to increase social capital in your
  own lives and communities

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Seven Forms of Capital

• Natural capital landscape, air, water, soil and
  biodiversity of plants and animals
• Cultural capital values and approaches to life
• Human capital skills and abilities of each
  individual
• Social capital networks, mutual trust that
  exists among groups
• Political capital ability to influence the
  distribution of resources
• Financial capital money used for investment
  rather than consumption
• Built capital factories, roads, schools,
  community centers, etc.
• Community Capitals Framework, North Central
  Regional Center for Rural Development

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Community Capitals Model, North Central Regional
Center for Rural Development
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Social Capital Defined

• Connections among people add value to a society
  in much the same way that financial capital does.
  Social capital refers to the collective value of
  all social networks - or who people know.
• Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone

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Social Capital Facts

• Since the 1960s, church attendance is down by
  roughly 1/3.
• Involvement in community life, such as public
  meetings is down by 35 over the last 25 years.
• Club and civic organization participation has
  been cut by more than ½ in the last 25 years
• Inviting friends over to the house is down by 45
  over the last 25 years.
• Beginning in the late 1960s, Americans began to
  join less, trust less, give less and vote less.
• The Saguaro Seminar

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Why the big change?

• Busyness and time pressures
• Economic hard times
• The movement of women into the paid labor force
  and the stress of two career families
• Residential mobility
• Suburbanization and sprawl
• Television, the electronic revolution
• Disruption of marriage and family ties
• Generational trends

Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone
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Why is social capital important?

• It allows people to resolve collective problems
  more easily
• It allows communities to advance smoothly.
• It widens our awareness of the many ways we are
  linked
• The networks filled with social capital assist in
  the achievement of our goals

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Social Capital may have two sides

• Positive consequences
• Mutual support
• Cooperation
• Trust

• Negative consequences
• Ethnocentrism
• Corruption
• Outsiders not always welcomed

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What does positive social capital look like?

• People feel that they are part of the community
• Citizens feel useful and help in a variety of
  community activities and ventures
• Citizens actively participate in community
  networks such as public meetings, organizations,
  etc.
• Individuals help strangers and involve them
• Neighbors keep an eye on each others home

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Five Aspects of Social Capital

• Civic Engagement
• Trust
• Civic Responsibility
• Networks Connections
• Collective Community Vitality

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Civic EngagementHow civically engaged are people
in your community?

• Have you attended a community parade or
  celebration in the past 12 months?
• Have you helped plan or lead a meeting or
  activity?
• Have you volunteered your time in the past 12
  months?

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TrustDo people trust or feel safe in your
community?

• Do you feel safe walking down the street at night
  in your community?
• Overall, can you trust your local government to
  do what is right?

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Civic ResponsibilityDo citizens feel a sense of
civic duty

• You lost your wallet with 200 in it. How many
  people in your community would return it?
• A terrible storm hit your community and left
  people homeless. How many people would help out
  in any way?

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Networks Connections

• Have you been involved in any recreational,
  sports, garden, investment or hobby group in the
  last 12 months?
• Have you been involved in a youth or parents
  organization in the past 12 months?

• Bonding- connecting with those people who are
  similar
• Bridging connecting with those are engaged in
  different networks
• Linking connections with organizations that
  have resources within and outside the community.

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Collective Community Vitality

• How often do young people move away from your
  community to find better opportunities?
• How often do people of different races,
  ethnicities, and religions get along with one
  another?

• Each individual is important to the communitys
  vitality!

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Activity

• Identify what the various facets of social
  capital look like in your own community and ways
  you might help increase that facet.

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Next Steps

• How do you see yourself using this information?
• What additional resources/preparation do you need
  to feel comfortable leading discussions about
  social capital?

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References

• Community Capitals Framework. North Central
  Regional Center for Rural Development. Retrieved
  December 20, 2007 from http//www.ncrcrd.iastate.e
  du/projects/commcap/7capitals.htm
• Flora, C. B., Flora, J. L., Fey, S. (2004). Rural
  communities Legacy and change (2nd Ed.) Boulder,
  CO. Westview Press.
• Putnam, R. D. Feldstein, L. M. (2003). Better
  together Restoring the American community.
  2003. New York, NY. Simon Shuster.
• Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone The
  collapse and revival of American community. New
  York, NY, Simon Shuster.
• The Saguaro Seminar Civic Engagement in
  America. Retrieved December 1, 2007 from
  http//www.ksg.harvard.edu/saguaro/

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• Presentation developed by
• Lynette Flage
• Community Leadership Specialist
• North Dakota State University Center for
  Community Vitality
• Lynette.Flage_at_ndsu.edu
• Doreen Hauser-Lindstrom
• Community Vitality Specialist
• Washington State University
• doreen_at_wsu.edu

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Additional Activities

• The following frames provide guidance to
  additional activities you may want to use if time
  allows.

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Activity

• Social Capital Bingo
• Have others in the group sign the bingo page if
  they are able to.
• The first person with a completed page gets a
  prize!
• All items on the page have to do with an aspect
  of social capital.

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Activity

• Community Glue what groups exist in your
  community?
• Brainstorm a list on the flip chart paper and
  share with larger group
• Do they know what each other does? What their
  critical missions are?
• How might we help them work together?

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Activity Individual Social Capital

• Consider your personal social capital how
  connected are you?
• Using the diagram on the next slide, please take
  5 minutes to quickly brainstorm all of the
  individuals and groups you know or belong to (use
  names).
• Share your diagram with your neighbor.

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Work Relationships
Friends
Service provider relationships (doctor, dentist,
etc.)
Family
YOU
Faith-based relationships
Acquaintances (might send a holiday card to)
Formal Organizations (JCs Lions, 4-H, etc.)