{"id":144171,"date":"2025-04-28T11:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T15:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=144171"},"modified":"2025-04-28T15:31:13","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T19:31:13","slug":"bonding-and-bridging-social-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/bonding-and-bridging-social-capital\/","title":{"rendered":"Bonding and Bridging Social Capital: Robert Putnam Explains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Does <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/social-unity\/\">social cohesion<\/a> really lead to closed-minded groups that exclude outsiders? Can strong community bonds actually foster greater tolerance rather than less?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In <em>Bowling Alone<\/em>, Robert Putnam challenges common assumptions about community connections. He distinguishes between bonding and bridging social capital, showing how these different types of connections shape our society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Read on to discover how our connections with both similar and different people influence so much.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-bonding-and-bridging-social-capital\">Bonding and Bridging Social Capital<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Not everyone agrees that social capital is an unquestionable good. Putnam acknowledges the most common criticism that <strong>deep social ties can homogenize groups <\/strong>so that they define society in terms of who\u2019s \u201cin\u201d and \u201coutside\u201d their bubble. However, Putnam points out that social capital takes different forms\u2014bonding and bridging social capital\u2014that simply bring people together in different ways. Also, he uses data to show that having more social capital actually <em>increases <\/em>tolerance and acceptance of others.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Though a group may look homogenous from the outside, people on the inside are often still aware of their individual differences. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-status-game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>The Status Game<\/em><\/a>, Will Storr explains that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/the-status-game#status-games-produce-hostility-and-enmity\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">people within tightly knit circles might see everyone on the <em>outside<\/em> as being in a homogenous group<\/a>, one that threatens their values and beliefs just by existing. This mindset can provoke a shared sense of \u201coutgroup hostility\u201d that further strengthens the in-group\u2019s social bonds. As we\u2019ll see, Putnam acknowledges this effect, but he doesn\u2019t present it as the norm.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Putnam identifies two types of social capital\u2014bonding and bridging social capital:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Bonding social capital <\/strong>unites us, bringing people together around a common interest, belief, or cultural background. For example, your local chamber of commerce bonds business owners in a particular region.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bridging social capital <\/strong>brings people with different backgrounds together. For example, a public school is open to students from every part of the community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Many organizations combine both bonding and bridging social capital, such as a science fiction convention that <em>bonds <\/em>people around their enjoyment of the genre while <em>bridging <\/em>them across lines of ethnicity and income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(Shortform note: Some experts identify more types of social capital than Putnam does\u2014in addition to \u201cbonding\u201d and \u201cbridging,\u201d they refer to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/councils\/forbesbusinesscouncil\/2023\/08\/28\/exploring-the-four-types-of-social-capital\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">\u201clinking\u201d and \u201cidentifying\u201d<\/a> social capital. <em>Linking social capital<\/em> expands the concept of \u201cbridging\u201d to include connections between people and organizations <a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialcapitalresearch.com\/what-is-linking-social-capital\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">across hierarchical power boundaries<\/a>, such as the relationship between a manager in one company and a board member of a different organization. Likewise, <em>identifying social capital<\/em> expands \u201cbonding\u201d to include the connections between people who may be no more than acquaintances, if that, but can <a href=\"https:\/\/www.socialcapitalresearch.com\/identity-and-belonging\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">bond over a common trait or experience<\/a>, such as strangers who meet at a Taylor Swift concert and bond over their shared identity as \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/kanelandkrier.com\/features\/swifties-unite-the-heartbeat-of-taylor-swifts-empire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Swifties<\/a>.\u201d)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-us-against-them\">Us Against Them<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a common stereotype that strong social cohesion leads to bland conformity, such as in the clich\u00e9d \u201cwhite picket fence America\u201d portrayed in many classic sitcoms. Putnam admits the underlying problem\u2014<strong>social connections can feel strongest when defined in opposition to an \u201coutsider\u201d group,<\/strong> as when supporters of one football team unite against the fans of their biggest rival. While this particular example is usually benign, the social cohesion of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/dominant-caste\/\">dominant class<\/a> has been used to ill effect against marginalized groups throughout recorded history. As if to confirm this, social acceptance of minority groups <em>grew <\/em>in the US during the very same period that our close social connections began to fall apart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nevertheless, <strong>Putnam strongly refutes the idea that social cohesion and social tolerance are mutually exclusive.<\/strong> In his research, he discovered that people who are more involved in their communities are also more accepting of interpersonal differences. Likewise, because of the link between social capital and economic growth (which we\u2019re about to cover), increased social connections in communities often runs in parallel with greater economic equality. According to Putnam, the negative perception that social cohesion leads to \u201cus versus them\u201d thinking arises when the two types of capital\u2014bonding and bridging\u2014come in opposition with each other, such as when a group bases its whole identity on hatred of another group of people.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/us-versus-them\/\">Us Versus Them<\/a> in Politics<\/strong><br><br>The conflict between bonding and bridging social capital can be seen in the way the US\u2019s major political parties changed in the 20th and 21st centuries. In <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/why-were-polarized\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><em>Why We\u2019re Polarized<\/em><\/a>, Ezra Klein explains that in the mid-20th century, the coalitions underlying both parties <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/why-were-polarized#mid-20th-century-politics-light-on-partisanship\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">were far more heterogeneous than they are today<\/a>. For example, there were many liberal Republicans in New England and conservative white Southerners in the Democratic Party. In Putnam\u2019s terms, their bridging social capital was high, despite the parties\u2019 ideological differences.<br><br>Klein contends that the shift to the US\u2019s current, highly polarized political model began when the<strong> <\/strong>liberal wing of the Democratic Party <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/why-were-polarized#the-dixiecrats-exit-the-democratic-party\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">began aggressively supporting civil rights legislation<\/a>, using its bridging social capital to promote social tolerance throughout American life. While successful in passing legislation, this ideological push caused a breach within the party as Southern conservatives moved over to the more anti-regulation Republican side.<br><br>One could argue that during this time, each party\u2019s <em>bonding <\/em>social capital dipped while their <em>bridging <\/em>social capital was in play\u2014until their members resolidified along strict ideological lines. As of 2020, Klein writes that nearly all American voters are now neatly sorted into one party or the other. He states that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/app\/book\/why-were-polarized#identities-over-issues\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">identities, not issues, drive political behavior<\/a>\u2014voters hate and fear the other party more than they admire their own. It would appear that bonding social capital has overbalanced bridging capital, at least until the next major political shift.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Does social cohesion really lead to closed-minded groups that exclude outsiders? Can strong community bonds actually foster greater tolerance rather than less? In Bowling Alone, Robert Putnam challenges common assumptions about community connections. He distinguishes between bonding and bridging social capital, showing how these different types of connections shape our society. Read on to discover how our connections with both similar and different people influence so much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":144179,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[275,24],"tags":[1783],"class_list":["post-144171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","category-society","tag-bowling-alone","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.3 (Yoast SEO v24.3) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Bonding and Bridging Social Capital: Robert Putnam Explains - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Putnam describes two types of social capital\u2014bonding and bridging. 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