The Resource Perspective – Nan Lin's Concept of Social Capital

Abstract

As the final social capital concept, we introduce Nan Lin's ideas. Like Burt (see Chapter 4 in the present monograph), he also conceptualizes social capital as a structural entity. In contrast to the other authors, he developed his concept in agreement with the general idea of capital and he considers other current social capital concepts. Accordingly, we will start by introducing his general theory of capital and then outline critical points of the formerly presented social capital notions (Chapter 2-4). After introducing Lin's concept of social capital and its critical points, we will contest the concept empirically. As we did in the previous chapters, we will also use his concept to refine our requirements for a general social capital theory.