The M-C-M' cycle and social capital

Area of Science:

• Social Sciences
• Sociology
• Health Sciences

Background:

• Social capital is a widely used but inconsistently defined concept across disciplines.
• This ambiguity complicates the measurement of social capital in social and health programs.
• Existing definitions often conflate social capital with its antecedents or outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a theoretical model that captures the dynamic and transactional nature of social capital.
• To provide a framework for developing robust research methods for measuring social capital.
• To distinguish core components of social capital from related factors.

Main Methods:

• Development of a theoretical model based on Marx's M-C-M' economic cycle.
• Adaptation of the economic cycle to a social resource exchange model: R-C-R'.
• Focus on the transactional process of investing and transforming social resources.

Main Results:

• The R-C-R' cycle model conceptualizes social capital as a dynamic process of resource exchange.
• R represents individual internal resources, C represents network-acquired external resources, and R' represents altered internal resources.
• The model facilitates the measurement of social capital through the analysis of these transactional cycles.

Conclusions:

• The proposed R-C-R' model offers a clearer, dynamic framework for understanding and measuring social capital.
• This transactional approach helps avoid confusion with antecedent factors and outcomes.
• The model has potential applications in evaluating formal networks and social/health programs.