Social Capital Application Essay

To me success is accomplishing the goals, doing things the right way, and doing what you love.

Social capital is the is the social connections that allow for social interactions in which an individual has opportunities to build bonds, help others out, and affect change for the better. When the social engagement is reciprocated, it can produce benefits for the multiple individuals engaged in the activity and so further the circumstance of the society.

Social capital is “the social knowledge and connections that enable people to carry out their goals and extend their influences.”(1) When joining an organization, members are optimistic of achieving social capital. They aspire to connect with others who have similar interests, and strive to influence people of their beliefs and views. Members have high hopes of impacting society one day.

Who is responsible for our country in the future? Outside the unfortunate choice between Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, who else will continue to lead this nation? Children are always seen as the adults of tomorrow. We always hope that the children we raise and teach will improve not only their lives but the lives of others. A child’s comprehension can be affected by everything around them, so we must provide them an education and the help they need to become the America of tomorrow.

Success does not mean you have the most money, fame, or accomplishments. It means you were able to do something you never thought you could, took risks you never thought you would take, and leap when you are afraid. Sometimes success is even silent; nobody knows but you. The bravest people are the ones who are silent. The people you do not even know are struggling. Courage is probably the purest form of success.

There are many different understandings of what success is. Some relate success to money, others relate success to happiness, but it all depends on the type of person.

Success is something we all reach for. As human beings we love accomplishing things and reaching for our dreams. Success is the accomplishment of an aim or purpose, as well as a person or thing that achieves desired aims or attains prosperity. We gain prosperity from succeeding. Succeeding in the workplace, on the athletic field, in the classroom, and on the list goes.

People have been separated by social group and financial classes for years, creating inequalities that push people farther apart. Income inequality is one of the biggest concerns of today; according to recent Census Bureau data, the 25% highest income families receive 40% of U.S. income and the 25% lowest income families earn 9.64%. Furthermore, to couple with the issue of income disparity, is the realization that wealth disparity is even greater. The low level of education standards, lacking sense of security and crime rates are higher near the lowest income families. When seeing this information, a connection can be made between these social changes and the income and wealth inequality, consider this connection being between social capital and socioeconomics.

In other words if we lose confidence to society, social capital will not be formed or will break.

Social capital can be found any many different forms, but when discussing similarities and difference in church and the workplace it is very close to comparing apples and oranges. My view is that when we are at work there is not much time for talking of politics, except for a small time frame during lunch, the occasional smoke break (if you’re a smoker). Although there are other small bites of time in passing that there is a sporadic case of networking that is happening while in passing. One of the biggest reason for the decline for social capital in the workplace are unions are not as common as they were in earlier years. Since the mid 1950’s unions have tumbled from 32.5% to 14.1% (Putnam, 2000, p. 81). The cause for this decline of unions in today’s work I feel stems from not needing unions since there already is so many other labor enforcement protection agencies in place unions are a thing of the past. Large and growing fraction of the American workforce has nonstandard jobs (temp-workers, independent contractors, on call workers) ( (Putnam, 2000, p. 90). Additionally, the economy and the lack of well-paying jobs are still in hiding, regardless what is being reported. According to a Roper poll the proportion of Americans satisfied with their jobs fell from 46% in mid-1970’s to 36% in 1992; some of this disaffection is traceable to concerns of about job security and personal finances (Putnam, 2000, p. 91).

What makes you successful in Life? Is it being well liked or highly thought of or being a high school star? I think being successful is achieving goals that you have set throughout your life. It is not lying and stealing but being honest and hard working throughout your life.

Civic engagement is when a person gets involved in the community in order to help it strive; while social connectedness is when someone makes a connection with another in order to benefit themselves. (Putnam, 1995). These terms then go hand in hand with each other they all affect one another in some way whether it is positive or negative. Social capital is affected by one’s civic engagement and social connectedness. Certain organizations are deemed as more important that others; Putnam (1995) states that people of “tertiary organizations” like “Red Sox fans; they root for the same team and they share some of the same interests, but they are unaware of each other’s existence” (p. 11). There is some meaning to this, because it is true. People who only ever meet once or twice at say an event such as a big game or party will only ever associate because of common interest and nothing more. Not really caring for the other. Putnam (1995) goes on to say that these organizations are not as important as secondary organizations, which can include churches, veteran’s retirement homes, etc. (p. 11). This is where Putnam overlooks

Social capital is one piece of overall social cohesion (Putnam 2004 p3). Social capital is the social network that allows members to achieve more together (Carrasco 2016 p128). It is the trust and norms of a single group of people. Social cohesion speaks about the larger community, and uses more broad terminology about the relationship of members in a community. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development offers a comprehensive definition, saying a cohesive society is one that "works towards the well-being of all the members, fights exclusion and marginalization creates a sense of belonging, promotes trust and offers members the opportunity of upward social mobility” (OECD 2011 p51). Social cohesion can be broken into four categories: positive relationships, equal life chances, civic

When individuals come together to form connections that create valuable relationships that are based on trust in their community is regarded as Social capital. These connections are formed either in the local communities, social clubs, and churches, in sports as well as at work place. Social Capital has been described by different scholars, they look at the benefits that social capital creates and the positive impact it brings to those communities. However in recent years there has been a number of factors that has caused the decline of social capital. This essay will be looking at how different scholars have defined Social capital, the benefits that are associated with Social capital, and also the factors that has contributed to the decline in Social capital.

Social capital is important because it is a way to measure how someone has spent their life. A resume of every meaningful social experience someone has had would be an accurate representation of one’s social capital