Toward a Unified Conceptualization of Social Capital

Invited Speaker: Professor jimi adams, Sociology, McCausland College of Arts and Sciences, University of South Carolina Social capital is among the most broadly used concepts in social science. Despite its shared understanding as beneficial resources available from the connections between people, authors vary widely in their conceptualizations of social capital. To extract clarity from these disparate perspectives, we offer a systematic framework for conceptualizing social capital, which identifies three primary theoretical dimensions of scholars’ conceptualizations of social capital: (a) where beneficial resources reside, ranging from within individuals to the relationships between individuals; (b) beneficial network structure, differentiating closure from brokerage arrangements; and (c) the level to which rewards accrue, distinguishing individual from collective benefits. We illustrate how combining these dimensions produces a unifying perspective that fosters reintegrating social capital’s disconnected conceptualizations. Finally, we draw on this framework to both reconcile seeming contradictions and gaps in social capital scholarship, and provide a principled means for prioritizing questions for future developments of social capital. About the presenter: jimi adams studies how networks constrain or promote the diffusion of information and/or diseases through populations. Much of this work has focused on HIV/AIDS and Covid-19 among populations in the US and Sub-Saharan Africa. Recently, his work has focused more on the integrative patterns and processes in problem-focused areas of science that draw from many academic disciplines (e.g., HIV/AIDS, demography, the environment). The webinar was on Wednesday, Novmeber 11, 2025, and was part of the regular webinar sessions held by the International Social Capital Association https://www.intsocialcapital.org/