Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Community Resilience to Sectarian Violence in Baghdad pp 81–94Cite as

Social Capital

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

  • 743 Accesses

Part of the book series: Peace Psychology Book Series ((PPBS))

Abstract

What was the relationship of social capital to escalation dynamics in Baghdad neighborhoods? This chapter explores social capital and conflict resilience in Baghdad neighborhoods in two broad categories: relationships between people, and relationships between people and the neighborhood. Concerning the former, this chapter explores the difference between crosscutting and overlapping ties for conflict resilience; concerning the latter, it discusses the importance of three sociopsychological concepts: sense of community, citizen participation, and place attachment. Preexisting community connectedness and infrastructure are critical components of adaptation during crisis, but are fragile connections that easily fray during crisis without intentional, reinforcing actions.

If you get sick, the people who bring you chicken soup are likely to represent your bonding social capital. On the other hand, a society that has only bonding social capital will look like Belfast or Bosnia—segregated into mutually hostile camps.

Robert Putnam

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   39.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   54.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

Notes

  1. 1.

    Handbook of Conflict Resolution, Deustch, 857.

  2. 2.

    As described earlier, the al Aimmah bridge connecting Adhamiyya and Shiite-dominant Kazimiyya had been closed in 2005. In September of the same year, Shia pilgrims on their way to the sacred shrine of the Imam Musa al-Kazim in Kazimiyya became panicked as rumors of an impending suicide bomb attack spread throughout the gathering. People crowded onto the bridge, overcoming the gate which had sealed the entrance. Tragically, gates on both sides of the bridge opened inward, making the exit on the opposite side of the bridge impossible. The bridge collapsed under the weight of so many people, and hundreds dropped into the Tigris below. People from both sides dove into the water to help those drowning; “on the Sunni side, calls went out from the loudspeakers of local Mosques to help those in trouble.” Teenager Othman Abdul Hafez, “a Sunni Arab from the other side of the bridge, drowned as he tried to pull yet another Shia pilgrim from the River Tigris, having saved up to seven others.” By accounts on Wikipedia, Adhamiyya residents pulled hundreds of Shia from the water, “where their fellow residents transported them to hospitals and mosques, in some cases using the mattresses from their own beds as makeshift stretchers.” See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4214926.stm and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adhamiyya.

  3. 3.

    Long, Austin (2008) “The Anbar Awakening,” Survival, 50:2, 74. Al Anbar is the largest province in Iraq, and its residents entirely Sunni from the Dulaim tribe whose membership extends into Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan (Al Zarqawi’s birthplace). These linkages dated back to the Iran–Iraq war. As more and more party members (especially members of the Baath militia known as the Popular Army) were sent to the front, thinning out the presence of loyal Baathists in tribal areas. This forced increasing reliance on tribal loyalty and Saddam widened the circle of tribes he relied on, drawing heavily on the large Dulaimi confederation of Anbar.

  4. 4.

    While discussions about this set of capacities often include leadership as a variable, I have chosen to cover leadership in Chapter Five Community Competence.

  5. 5.

    Adapted from the Oxford Dictionary’s definition as “the action or fact of forming a united whole [including for physics] the sticking together of particles of the same substance.”

References

  1. Lederach, J.P. 2005. The moral imagination: The art and soul of building peace, 14. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  2. Fukuyama, Francis. 1995. Trust : the social virtues and the creation of prosperity, 10. London: Hamish Hamilton.

    Google Scholar 

  3. Brehm, John, and W. Rahn. 1997. Individual-level evidence for the causes and consequences of social capital. American Journal of Political Science 41: 999–1023.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Coleman, James S. 1990. Foundations of social theory, 203. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Emphasis mine.

    Google Scholar 

  5. Inglehart, R. 1997. Modernization and post-modernization: Cultural, economic and political change in 43 societies, 188. Princeton: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  6. Richards, P., Bah, K. and Vincent, J. (2004). Social capital and survival: Prospects for community driven development in post-conflict Sierra Leone. World Bank, Social Development Papers, p 1.

    Google Scholar 

  7. Woolcock, Michael. 1998. Social capital and economic development: Towards a theoretical synthesis and policy framework. Theory and Society 27: 151–208. 153.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Fukuyama, Francis. 1999. Social capital and civil society. The Institute of Public Policy at George Mason University. Prepared for delivery at the IMF conference on second generation reforms.

    Google Scholar 

  9. Putnam, R.D. 1993. Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy, 177–181. Princeton New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  10. Boxman, E.A.W., P.M. De Grant, and H.D. Flap. 1991. The impact of social and human capital on the income attainment of Dutch managers. Social Networks 13(51–73): 52.

    Google Scholar 

  11. Bourdieu, P. 1986. The forms of capital. In Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education, ed. John G. Richardson, 241–258. New York: Greenwood Press.

    Google Scholar 

  12. Lubell, Mark. 2007. Familiarity breeds trust: Collective action in a policy domain. The Journal of Politics 69(1): 237–250.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Rotter, J.B. 1971. Generalized expectancies for interpersonal trust. American Psychologist 26(5): 443–452.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Rotter, J.B. 1980. Interpersonal trust, trustworthiness, and gullibility. American Psychologist 35(1): 1–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Levi, Margaret. 2000. When good defenses make good neighbors. In Institutions, contracts, and organizations: Perspectives from new institutional economics, ed. Claude Menard, 137–157. Chichester, England: Edward Elgar.

    Google Scholar 

  16. Sabatier, Paul, and Hank Jenkins-Smith. 1993. Policy change and learning: An advocacy coalition approach. Boulder, CO: Westview Press.

    Google Scholar 

  17. Norris, Fran H., Susan P. Stevens, Betty Pfefferbaum, Karen F. Wyce, and Rose Pfefferbaum. 2008. Community resilience as a Metaphor, theory, set of capacities and strategy for disaster readiness. American Journal of Community Psychology 41: 139.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Brown, Michael E. 2001. Ethnic and internal conflicts. In Turbulent peace: The challenges of managing international conflict, ed. C. Crocker, F. Hampson, and P. Aall. Washington, DC: United States Institute of Peace Press.

    Google Scholar 

  19. Pruitt, Dean, and Sung Hee Kim. 2004. Social conflict: Escalation, stalemate and settlement, vol. 3, 138. Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  20. Varshney, Ashutosh. 2001. Ethnic conflict and civil society: India and beyond. World Politics 53(3): 366.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Newman and Dale. 2005. http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol10/iss1/resp2/.

  22. Isenberg, D.J. 1986. Group polarization: A critical review and meta-analysis. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 50(6): 1141–1151.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  23. Myers, David G., and G.D. Bishop. 1970. Discussion effects on racial attitude. Science 169(3947): 778–779.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  24. Goodman, R., M. Speers, K. McLeroy, S. Fawcett, M. Kegler, E. Parker, et al. 1998. Identifying and defining the dimensions of community capacity to provide a basis for measurement. Health Education and Behavior 25: 261.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Ury, William. 2000. The third side: Why we fight and how we can stop, 2000. New York: Penguin Group.

    Google Scholar 

  26. Carey, Benedict. 2013. Diagnosis: Battered but vibrant. New York Times, Jan 7. http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/science/lessons-in-community-from-chicagos-southside.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0.

  27. Tartaglia, S. 2006. A preliminary study for a new model of sense of community. Journal of Community Psychology 34: 25–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Manzo, L., and D. Perkins. 2006. Finding common ground: The importance of place attachment to community participation and planning. Journal of Planning Literature 20: 3.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Brown, Barbara, Douglas Perkins, and Graham Brown. 2003. Place attachment in a revitalizing neighborhood: Individual and block levels of analysis. Journal of Environmental Psychology 23(2003): 259–271.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, University of San Diego, Alcala Park 5998, San Diego, CA, 92110, USA

    Ami C. Carpenter

Authors
  1. Ami C. Carpenter
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ami C. Carpenter .

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Carpenter, A.C. (2014). Social Capital. In: Community Resilience to Sectarian Violence in Baghdad. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-8812-5_6

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation