Social Capital is a concept that substantially contributed to the understanding of societies and groups during the recent decades. It was applied in several disciplines, such as sociology, economics and psychology. This publication contributes to the deeper and broader understanding of Social Capital by enhancing existing theories. Furthermore, it is shown how Social Capital can be formalised and operationalised.
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Abstract
This paper contributes to the enhancement of the theory of social capital, making it applicable to many different areas of social sciences. It gives a definition of social capital, which links the concept with utility and combines the individual and collective levels. On this basis, social capital is formalised through subjective expected utilities. To apply the developed theory on an empirical level, social capital is operationalised through the assumption of its transformation into economic capital. In this context, a quantitative value of social capital can be measured through the money and time that individuals, or groups, gain from social capital or must invest to build it. Therefore, this paper provides both a theoretical and methodological framework for formalising and measuring social capital and outlines a research direction, which will potentially lead to a deeper understanding of the notion of social capital.