About the Social Capital Campaign
The Social Capital Campaign promotes social capital and the institutions that create it to leading policy and opinion formers, particularly in Washington, D.C.
A DEFINITION OF SOCIAL CAPITAL
There are three main elements to social capital that we campaign on:
• First, social capital as the rich network of trusted relationships required for child development and formation through to adulthood
• Second, social capital as the rich network of relationships that sustain individuals throughout adulthood, both professionally and personally
• Third, social capital as the by-product of the first two: trust between citizens who have never met
SIX FOCUS AREAS
We draw our six policy focus areas from framework created by the Joint Economic Committee Social Capital Project, and we are grateful for the input and guidance of Dr. Scott Winship as we develop the campaign:
• Family Stability
• Family Affordability
• Work
• Youth investment
• Civil Society
• Digital – the impact of the digital economy upon social capital, in particular,
• Social media and civil society
• Work in the digital economy
An analysis across these several areas creates a composite, three-dimensional portrait of the state of social capital today, identifies the multiple sources of social capital collapse, and establishes the need for an interdisciplinary focus on creating policy solutions.
INSTITUTIONS AT THEIR BEST
Families, churches, schools, employers, societies, clubs, philanthropic endeavors, political offices—these are all social goods.
As we promote these institutions, we imagine them at their best:
Families as positive, nurturing environments for raising children and enjoying long term relationships.
Houses of worship as the best of collective action inspired by faith that benefits individual members and the wider community.
Schools providing scaffolding and skills preparation that equip a child for adulthood.
Employers providing opportunities that value profit, productive work, safe environments, and positive employee experiences, while benefiting their customers.
Societies, clubs, and philanthropy that elevate the human condition, raise quality of life, and maximize an individual’s potential.
Political campaigns that allow diverse opinion, organized around a fair and transparent democratic process to represent the interests of the people.
These institutions are prized elements of social capital creation.
Yet all of these institutions can have their negatives. Families can be abusive, faith groups controlling, schools incompetent, employers exploitative, societies exclusive, philanthropies self-enriching, and political activism corrupt or silencing of diverse opinion.
The existence of negative forms of social-capital-creating institutions does not negate the need for these institutions. Rather they add to the urgency of our campaign to promote social capital creating institutions at their best.
The Social Capital Campaign is a project of The Clapham Group.