Social Capital In Health

1463 Words3 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Impact of social media on social relationships

Discuss the role social capital in health Social capital is inevitable in our day to day functioning, with the relationships we have with our family, friends, and the socialisation between neighbours and strangers. Consequently, these interactions affect our lives in a variety of ways. In this essay, these effects will be explored focusing on the role social capital plays in our health. In addition, the term social capital will be broken down into its 2 main subsections, providing specific examples of how it impacts our health and overall well-being. Social capital is the structure of social relationships amongst people who live and work in a community, enabling that community to function effectively. These interactions increase economic …show more content…

There are two main types of social capital; bonding social capital, which describes the maintenance of strong ties and relationships within a network. These connections are formed by homogeneous groups. In contrast, bridging social capital represents diverse interests from individuals. These are social networks formed by heterogeneous groups. What is less spoken about is the change from bridging social capital to bonding social capital as smaller groups are formed. An example of this merging is gentrification. Gentrification is the renovation and revitalization of urban low-income areas, transforming it into the requirements of middle-class life. For this renovation of certain buildings and areas undergo changes through refurbishments, extensions, and developments. New retail destinations and dining locations are built, providing various opportunities for interactions amongst local residents. However, as part of gentrification, an influx of high status predominantly white people relocate or invest in these areas. These neighbourhoods have historically been disinvested by private and public sectors. So when high-income people move in, it is to capitalize on the previously disinvested properties, inflating their values, and in doing so, displacing low-income people. As a result, previous tenets have to find new homes to live. The stressors of moving have …show more content…

The strong ties that help bond these groups can often lead to the exclusion of outsiders. An example of this would be would be terrorist groups. These groups use violence, intimidation and evoke fear in the pursuit of their political, religious or ideological aims. A prime example of this would be The Klu Klux Klan (KKK). The KKK is a terrorist group that was founded in the South of America in 1915 and flourished nationwide in the early and mid-1920s. They base their behaviours on the on the belief that white people are superior to those of all other races, especially the black race. Their notion is based on pseudoscience evidence. Their beliefs have led to millions of brutal killing and lynching’s of black people, striking fear in people of colour in America. Another example of bonding social capital is gangs. Gangs are prominent globally, with Britain have over 225 recognised gangs. These result in knife and gun crime, robberies, and the possession and distributing of drugs. All of these factors are detrimental to one’s health and

Show More
Related

  • Gentrification Analysis

    804 Words  | 2 Pages

    Gentrification is defined as the process by which the wealthy or upper middle class uproot poorer individuals through the renovation and rebuilding of poor neighborhoods. Many long-term residents find themselves no longer able to afford to live in an area, where the rent and property values are increasing. Gentrification is a very controversial topic, revealing both the positive and negative aspects of the process. Some of the more desirable outcomes include reduced crime rate, increased economic activity, and the building of new infrastructures. However, it is debated whether the negatives overwhelm the positive. An increase in the number of evictions of low-income families, often racial minorities can lead to a decline of diversity

    Read More

  • Gentrification and White Preference in the Rhode Island Housing Market

    929 Words  | 2 Pages

    “Gentrification is a general term for the arrival of wealthier people in an existing urban district, a related increase in rents and property values, and changes in the district's character and culture.” (Grant) In layman’s terms, gentrification is when white people move to a black neighborhood for the sake of cheaper living, and in turn, raise up property values and force black neighbors to leave because of a higher price of living. Commonly, the government supports gentrification with the demolition of public housing in areas that are developing with more white neighbors. This is causing a decreasing amount of African Americans to be able to afford to live in the neighborhood as their homes are taken away from them, forcing them to relocate. Whilst gentrification normally has negative connotations, there are several people who believe gentrification brings about “an upward trend in property values in previously neglected neighborhoods.” (Jerzyk) On the other hand, this new trend in property value and business causes those...

    Read More

  • Gentrification All Bad Justin Davidson Summary

    2066 Words  | 5 Pages

    It is this displacement that causes economic segregation in cities like Cleveland, Ohio and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. However, if the meaning of gentrification is changed, and policies are changed to make sure the upper-income families and the underprivileged are able to live together in the same communities,

    Read More

  • Gentrification and Racial Tensions: An Analysis

    1191 Words  | 3 Pages

    When their neighborhood starts changing and all these luxury homes are being built for the wealthier residents, you can have a lot of racial tension. Although the Upper class residents do occupy these newly renovated places, they are not to blame for it. Policy makers encourage gentrification more than they oppose it. To the Government it increases property taxes, and boost the economy. Ronnie Flores states; “[…] Success is measured not by how well people are accommodated, but how much profit can be made’’. It can be discouraging when Policy makers seem to be on the opposite side of what these longtime residents want to prevent or at least co-exist with. Investors and developers are always on the lookout for areas where they can buy cheap and reap the profits. Not once keeping in the mind the effects it can have on the current residents who built this city life that draws so much attention to it.

    Read More

  • Analysis Of Gentrification: A Positive Good For Communities

    1003 Words  | 3 Pages

    “gentrification as an ugly product of greed”. Yet these perspectives miss the point. Gentrification is a byproduct of mankind's continuing interest in advancing the notion that one group is more superior to another and worthy of capitalistic consumption with little regard to social consciousness. It is elitism with the utmost and exclusionary politics to the core. This has been a constant theme of mankind taking or depleting space for personal gain.

    Read More

  • Gentrification

    1826 Words  | 4 Pages

    Beginning in the 1960s, middle and upper class populations began moving out of the suburbs and back into urban areas. At first, this revitalization of urban areas was 'treated as a 'back to the city' movement of suburbanites, but recent research has shown it to be a much more complicated phenomenon' (Schwirian 96). This phenomenon was coined 'gentrification' by researcher Ruth Glass in 1964 to describe the residential movement of middle-class people into low-income areas of London (Zukin 131). More specifically, gentrification is the renovation of previously poor urban dwellings, typically into condominiums, aimed at upper and middle class professionals. Since the 1960s, gentrification has appeared in large cities such as Washington D.C., San Francisco, and New York. This trend among typically young, white, upper-middle class working professionals back into the city has caused much controversy (Schwirian 96). The arguments for and against gentrification will be examined in this paper.

    Read More

  • Runaway And Homeless Youth Act

    1678 Words  | 4 Pages

    More generally, social capital “describes an interpersonal resource upon which individuals can draw to enhance their opportunities in life” (Avery INSERT PAGE

    Read More

  • Bourdieu Social Capital Essay

    950 Words  | 2 Pages

    Amongst many thinkers, who wrote about it, are Bourdieu, Coleman or Putnam, mentioned above, although Portes argues that the rudiment can be traced back to the work of Durkheim and his “emphasis on the group life as an antidote to anomie and self-destruction” (Portes 2000, p.44). DeFilippis believes that, although underused, Bourdieu’s view on social capital could be very useful in community development as he tried to understand and explain social capital in relation to class’ generation and division. Social capital represents social networks and relationships and is connected to the capital in the economic meaning as well as the power relations, which affect the social interaction. For Bourdieu, capital and power are inextricably bounded up (Bourdiue, 1985 in DeFilippis, 2001). He argued that it could cause unequal distribution of social capital among groups and individuals (Johnson, 2016).

    Read More

  • The Pros And Cons Of Gentrification

    1614 Words  | 4 Pages

    Gentrification Toward a Segregated United States of America Gentrification is defined as the process of renovating and improving a house or district so that it conforms to middle-class taste. In the United States this has become a very common occurrence as many urban areas and neighborhoods are constantly being remodeled and reconstructed so that they can continue to be seen as modern and attractive to potential home buyers. Due to this, gentrification is typically given a connotation of a process that displaces lower income families from a neighborhood and is therefore an issue of socioeconomic status. However, gentrification is an even deeper issue than is commonly seen because it also divides individuals based off of race. While gentrification is traditionally seen as an issue of wealth and social class, the additional divides it creates over race serve only to keep the United States a segregated country while also creating unnecessary tension and violence between surrounding neighborhoods and urban areas.

    Read More

  • Pros And Cons Of Gentrification

    1440 Words  | 3 Pages

    Gentrification can be defined in several ways. It can focus on the shift of the demographic of an area with regard to the ethnic makeup due to an influx of upper-middle income residents to areas where they had largely been absent. The term could also reflect the change in land prices due to the significant increase in property value and rents, or gentrification could also relate to either a minor change of urban form, which is the repurposing of existing buildings, or a major change, which would be the demolition of existing infrastructure or the intensification of use. For example, in Toronto, developers tear down small buildings to build large rises in order to meet the increasing demand to live downtown because people are less willing to

    Read More

  • Afro Caribbean Essay

    1098 Words  | 3 Pages

    Such frameworks incorporate the group's physical and social structure and social attachment (also called social capital) (Mentalhealth.org.uk, 2015). These can either empower or debilitate common assist or minding, self-regard, a feeling of having a place and improved social connections. Social union or capital is the result of the sufficiency of the physical and social structure in a group; it is characterised by levels of trust of kindred residents, standards of correspondence and the degree of participation of different deliberate groups and affiliations. In this manner, social capital can be seen to encourage collaboration for shared advantage (Duncan, 2010; Ellis,

    Read More

  • Social Capital Theory Essay

    1058 Words  | 3 Pages

    For many past years, social capital has become known as one of the greatly used concept in different spheres of life and disciplines like Sociology, Philosophy, Political sciences, Economics and essential in policy making, mass media and daily interaction (verbalization). A number of societal and economic problems are explained using the concept of social capital. It can be debated that social capital has become increasingly popular in the past years because of it’s wide use in social policy and economic progress. The undeniable or sure fascination

    Read More

  • Social Capital

    1520 Words  | 4 Pages

    Theoretical framework The concept of social capital has become popular in sociological theory. Citizen involvement and participation in groups can have positive consequences for the individual and the community is a staple notion, dating back to Durkheim’s emphasis on group life as an antidote to anomie and self-destruction and to Marx’s distinction between an atomized class- in-itself and a mobilized and effective class -for-itself. In this sense, the term social capital simply recaptures an insight present since the very beginnings of the discipline.

    Read More

  • Low Income Family Education

    750 Words  | 2 Pages

    Human capital refers to skills or knowledge of individuals, based on their education and experience while social capital refers to beneficial connection to social networks,

    Read More

  • Importance Of Social Capital In Rural Development

    905 Words  | 2 Pages

    The paradigm of rural development has shifted its focus from the structures and institutions to the collective action, trust, cooperation and reciprocity among the people. This trust, cooperation and the relationship of reciprocity are actually the features of social capital as envisaged by Robert Putnam in his study of Italy in 1993. According to him, social capital is the features of social organization such as networks, norms, and trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit.

    Read More

More about Social Capital In Health

Open Document