Content

Social Capital

Social Capital as a Public Policy Tool - Objectives and Background

Overview / Project Conclusion

Objectives

This project was designed to:

• understand the potential of social capital to affect public policy outcomes in Canada;
• develop a conceptual framework and measurement tools that will have practical applications for various federal policy departments; and
• transfer lessons learned and policy recommendations to key players in the policy and research communities.

Background

When we began this project, the concept of social capital appeared to provide a useful lens for understanding the health of a community or civil society, and potentially provide important clues to variations in social and economic outcomes.

At the same time, however, the concept of social capital was difficult to operationalize for public policy development. This problem stemmed in part from difficulties in adequately defining and measuring social capital, distinguishing various forms of social capital, and assessing its impact on other performance indicators. There was a clear need for a better operational understanding of social capital in order to develop public policy that could promote optimal social and economic outcomes and address the state of our civic institutions.

While we had a fairly good understanding of the potential causes and consequences of social capital, we needed to translate this knowledge into action.

A conceptual framework based on a network approach to social capital was developed to better enable federal government departments to include social capital considerations for their policy and program needs. According to this framework, social capital refers to the networks of social relations that may provide access to resources and supports. While the social capital framework to support research and policy analysis uses the network concept at its core, it is at the same time multi-dimensional. Depending on the particular research and policy application, social capital studies could encompass:

• the various characteristics of the networks and of transactions;
• the norms and institutional frameworks in which such networks operate;
• the resources that can be potentially accessed through participation in the networks;
• the choice of investments made in social networks; and
• the returns on those investments in the form of economic, social and health outcomes.

In the course of its development, the social capital project has been involved in various activities to build an understanding of social capital as a public policy tool. The project has:

• taken stock of the most current social capital research and established connections with world experts in the field;
• held workshop consultations with policy departments and experts;
• completed a conceptual framework for a network-based approach to social capital;
• produced an edition of Horizons (vol. 6, no. 3) focusing on social capital (the issue highlights preliminary findings from the PRI project and recent social capital research from Australia, New Zealand, and across Canada);
• organized, in partnership with the OECD and several federal government partners, an international conference on the role of social capital in immigrant integration and the management of diversity.
• participated in the developpement of a social network question module to be used for various survey uses, that effectively captures the key features of people's social networks and their uses;
• organized an expert workshop on measuring social capital in partnership with SSHRC with the collaboration of Statistics Canada to translate the conceptual framework into an analytical framework.

Following a meeting of assistant deputy ministers in April 2004, a series of thematic policy studies were selected to illustrate how a social capital approach could be brought to bear on several strategic policy themes. Throughout the summer and fall, the PRI and partners from seven departments oversaw the preparation of these studies by Canadian experts. The studies link social capital to a wide range of issue areas including:

• poverty reduction;
• community development;
• youth civic engagement;
• community crime prevention;
• healthy aging;
• the settlement of new immigrants to Canada;
• educational attainment in Aboriginal communities; and
• Aboriginal community policing.

Preliminary findings were presented and discussed by authors and departmental partners at a roundtable in November 2004, and highlighted at the PRI Social Policy Conference in December 2004.

The results and conclusions from the social capital project are presented in the following publications:

• a synthesis report presenting the project's general conclusions and recommendations on the use of the social capital concept for public policy purposes;
• a reference guide, Measurement of Social Capital for Public Policy Purposes, offering a comprehensive review and assessment of strategies and approaches for the effective measurement of social capital, and best practices in this area; and
• a collection of thematic policy studies in book form, sponsored by federal departments, exploring the relevance and application of social capital in specific policy and program areas.

During the Fall of 2005 the PRI has been meeting with the policy research community to share insights on how best to apply a social capital lens to a range of policy problems. Briefings with senior policy officials, analysts and researchers across and outside federal departments have been organized and will continue upon request.

For more information, please contact Sandra Franke at 613-995-4821.