How Does Social Capital Affect Public Policy - Essay Example

How does Social Capital affect Public Policy? Name Institution How does Social Capital affect Public Policy? Social capital is one of the evolving concepts with enormous implications on the events and activities, as well as living conditions within the society. Social capital relates to the social norms, trust, and networks, which enable cooperation within, as well as between the societal groups. The concept is essential in enabling practitioners to generate benefits to the society through substantive reduction of the transaction costs, as well as the promotion of the cooperative behavior. Similarly, social capital encourages diffusion of knowledge while creating a platform for the innovations through enhancement of the individual well-being. Social capital within the society incorporates institutions, interactions, attitudes, and values, which contributes towards governing relationships among people. These concepts are also valuable in aiding the realization of economic and social development. Nevertheless, social capital is more than the simple sum of institutions underpinning the society. Social capital provides the platform towards holding the societal institutions, relationships, values, and attitudes. Researchers associate social capital with several benefits such as improved health care, better educational outputs, enhanced child welfare, reduced crime rates, low tax evasion, and enhanced governmental responsiveness and efficiency. Similarly, social capital associates with productivity, income, and other aspects of economic performance. The objective of this research is to illustrate how social capital affects or influences the development and implementation of the public policies. There continues to be an interest regarding the concept of social capital and its implications or ramifications for the public policy, as well as the societal well-being. The concept of social capital has been able to oversee rapid prominence to the public domain following the role of the researchers in determining the influence of higher social capital on enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of the democratic institutions. According to earlier theorists, social capital is crucial in the development of the personal human capital. In the later stages, researchers have focused on the evaluation and exploration of the links between the social capital and social, as well as economic development within the nation. In spite of the variations in the definition of the social capital, the concept plays a critical role in improving or enhancing numerous facets of the individual and communal well-being. Social capital tends to have several benefits from social and economic perspectives. These benefits prove to be valuable for the policymakers in their approaches towards the development and integration of the public policies (Anyon, 2014). From this perspective, it is valuable to note that social capital tends to have enormous and crucial implications for the development and implementation of the public policies. According to the policymakers, social capital tends to have an array of practical benefits relating to the individuals and the communities. From an economic perspective, social capital tends to have ‘positive externalities.’ This relates to the networks of trust, as well as an exchange to offer benefits to the individuals within and outside the societal group. Evidently, depletion of the social capital proves to be detrimental to the individuals and societies in numerous ways (Andrew & Brewer, 2013). Improving the stocks of the social capital proves to represent one of the most promising perspectives towards enabling individuals and communities to address diverse social problems and issues. It is essential to note that social capital considerations tend to enter public policy analysis in three critical ways. Each of these ways tends to evaluate and assess the merits of the existing public policies, as well as their development and the need for other policies to maximize social capital. In the first instance, numerous governmental policies, as well as programs tend to have the development of the forms of social capital as the underlying goals in the realization of development. Some of these policies exist in areas such as education, family, welfare provision, sports sector, communications, and community services. The existing empirical evidence demonstrates that social capital contributes to the realization of sustainable development. Sustainability relates to the approach by the practitioners to leave future generations as many or more opportunities as the current generation has, thus, effective and efficient planning without jeopardizing the needs and resources of the future generation. The growing opportunities tend to require an expansion of the stock of capital (Gedajlovic, Honig, Moore, Payne, & Wright, 2013). There is a need for the policymakers to engage in the expansion of the traditional composition of the natural capital, physical capital, and human capital to incorporate social capital. In the aforementioned statement, social capital relates to the internal cultural, as well as social coherence of the society, as well as the norms and values with the ability to govern interactions relating to individuals and institutions. Evidently, social capital comes out as the glue with the ability to hold societies together. Without the social capital, there is no economic growth and human well-being, thus, the eventual or potential collapse of the society. Social capital tends to have positive implications for the development and integration of the public policy. In the first instance, social capital focuses on the improvement of efficiency in the poverty reduction public policies in the contemporary society. In this context, social capital facilitates the reduction of poverty through the building of the partnerships between states, markets, and civil society. According to various social scientists, it is valuable to facilitate characterization of the strengths and weaknesses of the society through the concept of social capital. This is through the incorporation of diverse networks and norms, which are ideal in enabling collective action. In the course of describing or characterizing the structure of the social capital, there is need to evaluate and explore the size and density of the networks. On the other hand, the content of the social capital includes the elements or extent of trust, as well as the prevalence of the reciprocity within the existing networks. Social capital tends to generate positive implications on the community members (Joshi & Aoki, 2014). Nevertheless, there is a need for great care in the course of aggregating the social capital because of the potentiality of creating social capital at the expense of another. From this perspective, the strength of one community might be detrimental to others within the society. Researchers continue to demonstrate statistical representation of the relationship between high levels of social capital and diverse benefits inclusive of the development of the pluralist democracy, enhanced physical health, public safety, improved economic performance, and efficiency in the reduction of the poverty levels within the society. The objective of the public policy is to enhance social capital, as well as community outcomes. From this illustration, it is the role of the public policy to adhere to the social capital and positive implications regarding the improvement of the living conditions of the target audiences in the society. Nevertheless, it seems unclear whether the policies, which target communities rather than people, make the most effective utilization or exploitation of the public resources (Helliwell, 2006). In certain circumstances, targeting focuses on unnecessarily regarding the individuals in need while diverting the resources from those who are in need. Alternatively, community-based policies and programs might engage in the promotion of the social capital while generating externalities increasing effectiveness. Social capital plays a critical role in the course of determining the development, evaluation and redesigning of the public policies in agreement with the demands and expectations of the target audiences. In the first instance, policymakers focus on the utilization of the social capital concept in the course of assessing policies to build, as well as support those networks, norms, and trust within the society. There are numerous proposals for the creation of policies with the ability and potentiality of sustaining social capital in the modern context. From this perspective, social capital concept plays a crucial role in the course of evaluating and exploring the role and implications of the policies regarding the expectations of the consumers. It is justifiable to demonstrate the fact that government institutions and programs aim at intervening in the social capital building, as well as sustainability because of the ability to generate positive externalities and other complementarities. The accumulation, as well as utilization of the social capital, is valuable in the generation of the positive externalities such as high levels of trust and pro-social norms aiming at the reduction of the costs for the community members. Such concepts are valuable in the provision of the public goods through the development of the effective and efficient economic and business policies while offering social spin-offs. This is evident in the guiding the development and implementation of the crime reduction policies and welfare dependence to improve the living conditions of the target audiences within the respective societies. Similarly, there are numerous complementarities in the investment of the social capital such as the returns to the individuals following their engagement as the members of the specific networks. Categorically, government policymakers have the obligation to adopt and integrate valuable policies in support of the building or creating the social capital concept and its positive implications for the improvement of the conditions of the society. Nevertheless, it is the obligation of the governmental institutions to facilitate exploration of numerous factors in the course of examining and exploring the development of the public policies in agreement with the existing social capital components in the nation. In the second instance, public policymakers focus on the utilization social capital components in the assessment of other policies in the maximization of the influence of such policies among the society members. From this perspective, social capital facilitates the assessment of other policies, which were in the first place, but not specifically developed to tackle the growth of the social capital and its components within the society. In other instances, it is valuable to note that various public policies tend to have social capital side effects. These effects tend to vary in accordance with importance and significance (Woolcock & Narayan, 2000). Moreover, government policies have the potentiality to accumulate the negative effects regarding the utilization of the existing social capital. Evidently, public policies, which do not adhere to the social capital lens in their development, might cause substantive harm to the utilization of the social capital and its externalities in the society. Furthermore, existing strategies or policies might incorporate the concepts and elements of the social capital in the building of the human capital (Youssef, 2015) . This is through improved accessibility to the educational institutions, as well as improvement of the quality and quantity of education. Governmental institutions focus on the utilization of such approaches in the course of building the human capital. In most cases, the tendency to integrate and improve the role of the parents and local citizens in the educational system plays critical roles in making the learning institutions to be more effective and efficient in the development of the nation. In the course of analyzing and investigating the social capital in the public policies, researchers have the obligation to assess and examine or explore diverse questions. For instance, there is need to examine the influence of the public policies in the course of encouraging the development of the people’s skills, thus, sociability of the public policies among the society members. Similarly, it is valuable to examine the influence of the public policies in targeting some groups at the expense of others, thus, the platform for the creation of the exclusion among the society members. Researchers also engage in the examination of the influence of the proposed service delivery in allowing the development of effective service delivery, as well as construction of information relationships among the relevant stakeholders. Additionally, it is valuable to explore the role of the participants in the course of increasing their capacity to tackle conflict and diversity (Putnam, 2015). Thirdly, social capital components are essential in the provision of the platform for the redesigning of the policies with the intention of exploiting the existing networks and trusts or norms within the society. From this perspective, it is valuable to note that the stock of social capital, as well as the historical background is central to the application of the social capital in addressing the demands and expectations of the consumers. It is crucial for the policymakers, especially in the public sector, to engage in the assessment of the existing components of social capital within the society to facilitate integration of the social capital in the public policies, as well as designing of the policies (Leung, Kier, Fung, Fung, & Sproule, 2013). It is valuable to consider diverse methods in the assessment and exploration of the existing stock of social capital. Evidently, it is beneficial to narrow down, as well as specify the stock of social capital for the redesigning of the existing of the public policies within the society. Conclusively, social capital is vital in facilitating the development and integration of diverse public policies in the modern context. For instance, social capital enables the development of the economic policies, which aim at reduction of the transaction costs through the norms, networks, and transactions. Similarly, such components are essential in the development of educational and ICT public policies, which are valuable in the dissemination of the knowledge and innovations among the society members. These policies are valuable in promoting cooperative, as well as socially minded behavior among the society members. According to the findings of this essay, social capital plays critical roles regarding the development and evaluation of the public policies. These roles include guiding the development of the public policies, assessing existing policies, and platform for redesigning existing policies with reference to the stock of social capital. References Andrews, R., & Brewer, G. A. (2013). Social capital, management capacity and public service performance: Evidence from the US states. Public Management Review, 15(1), 19-42. Anyon, J. (2014). Radical possibilities: Public policy, urban education, and a new social movement. Routledge. Gedajlovic, E., Honig, B., Moore, C. B., Payne, G. T., & Wright, M. (2013). Social capital and entrepreneurship: A schema and research agenda. Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, 37(3), 455-478. Helliwell, J. F. (2006). Well‐Being, Social Capital and Public Policy: What's New?*. The Economic Journal, 116(510), C34-C45. Joshi, A., & Aoki, M. (2014). The role of social capital and public policy in disaster recovery: A case study of Tamil Nadu State, India. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 7, 100-108. Leung, A., Kier, C., Fung, T., Fung, L., & Sproule, R. (2013). Searching for happiness: The importance of social capital. In The exploration of happiness (pp. 247-267). Springer Netherlands. Putnam, R. D. (2015). Education, diversity, social cohesion and ‘social capital’. Woolcock, M., & Narayan, D. (2000). Social capital: Implications for development theory, research, and policy. The world bank research observer, 15(2), 225-249. Youssef, K. W. (2015). A “Third Way” to Capitalism: International Perspectives on Social Capital and Public Health. Read More