CEO
The Importance of Social Capital
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The Voice, November 2005
The end of the year marks a time for celebration and reflection. Many religious holidays unfold and as a nation we celebrate Thanksgiving. These times offer us a chance to think about the important things in our lives and for most of us, this means thinking about our family and friends. The notion of friendship is an important one to ponder, and in a way, we should not be pushed by sentimental holidays to become more conscious of our need for friendship. Sociologists refer to friendship as “Social Capital.” To the academics, the term “capital” is one that speaks to resources that can advance or promote a profit. They talk about physical capital which refers to things like land or machinery. “Human capital” is often thought to be the people needed to do the work to create the goods or services.
Social capital, however, pushes the concept beyond its traditional roots and suggests the connectedness among and between people. Research is now convincing that the more social capital people have in their lives, the better their lives become. In fact, in his book, “Bowling Alone,” Robert Putnam reports that the more social capital people have in their lives the healthier they are, the happier they are and– listen to this – the longer they live. That is right – social capital, or friendship is linked to the 3 highest quality of life indicators know to humankind!
Now this is powerful stuff and has real implications for not just an agency like ours, but for our society in general. We know, as we listen to the people our agency serves and talk to their families that social isolation (the opposite of social capital) is the greatest challenge that people with disabilities have and that families fear. This has been continually verified in our experience and in the literature.
You don’t have to dig too deep to see the reality of social isolation, or limited social capital for people with significant disabilities. In our work at UCP/CLASS we hear over and over again, and see in vivid ways, that the folks we serve have less friends and social opportunities than people without disabilities. Some estimates are showing that people with significant disabilities have nearly two-thirds less – yes 66% less– social capital than their able-bodied peers!
This is powerful and penetrating stuff – and it begs for some basic answers. Looking at the issues just described, the direction should be clear – all people are better when they have more social capital – people with disabilities have less social capital –how can we help people (all people, with and without disabilities) develop more social capital.
Maybe however, the most basic problem in rehabilitation and services for people with disabilities is that we have not come to understand the importance of social capital. In my 35 years in the rehabilitation field, it seems like the social capital issue is a vague notion that is merely a byproduct of rehabilitation success. It seems that the real agenda in rehabilitation is to answer the question –how do we fix the problems that the person with the disability has? If someone can not walk, let’s help them walk, or get around easier. If someone can not talk, let’s help them learn to talk or get some talking device for them.
We think that if all these things can be addressed successfully, then people will be prepared to get more social capital.
I am not so sure that the notion if only someone could walk, or talk, or dress themselves they will automatically be set up to develop more friendships is accurate. The reason I say this is quite simple. I know, and I would imagine you do as well, people who can walk, talk and dress themselves, and have limited friendships. Further, I know other people who can not walk or talk or dress themselves and they have loads of friends.
Now why is this? Researchers would call this an anomaly. That is something that is true in spite of the paradigm that surrounds it.
We have so much more to think about and look at in our mission of building a community where each belongs. That is why UCP/CLASS is going to play a leading role in looking at this critical notion of social capital. We are already in our programs discovering some exciting things. That is also why we are empowering Melva Gooden-Ledbetter, as our new Chief Professional Officer, to help us create the partnerships in the community to learn more about this issue. When you think about social capital, we want you to think about us. And that gets me back to my original thought. The holiday season is a time to reflect on all our blessings. For most, this starts with reflection of friends and family – our social capital. So this year when you do your personal reflections I hope your remember two important things. One is to think about those who are socially isolated – with limited social capital. The other is to think about UCP/CLASS in our effort to help build social capital for those who struggle in this area.
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