OUP - Abstract

Social Networks and Social Capital as Resources for Neighborhood Revitalization: Volume One and Two

Dissertation School: University of Chicago

Pages: 449

Publication Date: August 2000

Availability:
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Access Number: 10719

Descriptors:
Low-income neighborhoods. Neighborhood revitalization. Nonprofit organizations. Community based organizations.

Abstract:
This doctoral dissertation describes how the organizational fields in the two study neighborhoods are structured, i.e., on the forms of social organization in the two neighborhoods' organizational fields. Using a method of network analysis called lattice analysis, the author demonstrates that the Williamsburg organizations are highly integrated, with many opportunities available for cross-organizational collaboration. In contrast, the Bushwick organizations largely are isolated from one another, giving rise to few opportunities for cross-organizational partnerships. Thus, the form of social capital in each of the two study areas is quite distinct. The end result of these very different neighborhood organizational structures and practices is that Williamsburg has strong social capital for engaging in the communitarian democratic practices that yield improvements to neighborhoods' social infrastructures, while Bushwick has strong social capital for accessing the financial resources that bring enhancements of neighborhoods' physical infrastructures. In many ways these two types of social capital counteract each other. This is because it is extremely difficult-perhaps impossible-to simultaneously maintain the very different organizational structures and practices that produce the two types of social capital needed for complete neighborhood revitalization. [AUTHOR ABSTRACT MODIFIED]

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