Believe it or not the average person has never heard of social capital. When described it makes perfect sense: relationships have value, to the individual and to the community. In the traditional sense most people appreciate that ‘knowing lots of people’ can be very helpful in terms of getting a leg up the professional or social ladder. But through social media networks have come to be a much more interesting beast, our networks span geography, specialisms, age etc. In addition research has placed wellbeing, learning and resilience firmly in the centre of the network.
There are tons of studies – but two longitudinal studies have always captured my imagination in particular. The first was entitled Children of the Garden Island, first published in1989 by Emmy Werner. In 1955 698 infants on the Hawaiian island of Kauai became participants in a 30-year study that has shown how some individuals triumph over physical disadvantages and deprived childhood. They tracked the lives of the 698 people from their prenatal experiences onwards. The study revealed a great deal about the importance of early intervention and identified a range of significant factors which are now obvious to us: prenatal trauma, poverty, large families, poor family relationships etc. One important finding was that children who were able to form relationships in the community could overcome a great deal of family related problems
“With the help of these support networks, the resilient children developed a sense of meaning in their lives and a belief that they could control their fate. Their experience in effective coping with and mastering stressful life events built an attitude of hopefulness that contrasted starkly with the feelings of the helplessness and futility that were expressed by their troubled peers.”
The second study, The Roseto Story, is more well know today because Malcolm Gladwell described this story in the introduction to Outliers. In 1963 a doctor stumbled across the fact that an Italian immigrant community in Pennsylvania was seemingly immune to heart disease. People who lived there were dying of old age. The detailed study, which followed the discovery of such good health, led to the conclusion that Rosetans were not protected from the heart attack by diet, exercise, genetics, locations… but instead by the very deep social bonds and highly networked nature of the community. There were hundreds of societies and clubs in a population of less than 2000. What you might not know from the Gladwell introduction is that they did a follow-up study 25 years later and found that heart disease was the same as the average around America. They studied the changes, again looking for diet and exercise changes… but concluded that the speed of social change in the community was the large contributing factor. The community had lost its taboo against ostentation for one thing.
“The most striking social change was a widespread rejection of a long standing taboo against ostentation. Initially puzzled by the almost universal avoidance of ostentation among the wealthy in Roseto, we learned from a young Italian anthropologist, who was also conducting a study of the town, that fear of ostentation derived from an ancient belief among Italian villagers relating to the evil eye, maloccio
Expensive automobiles began to appear on the streets of Roseto and occupants of the small,closely placed houses on Garibaldi and other streets of Roseto built and moved to typical suburban ranch houses with spacious lawns on the wooded edges of town. Those who formerly walked to the neighborhood stores for groceries, goods and services, began to drive to the supermarkets elsewhere. Local businesses soon began to close down. People joined country clubs and attendance at the men's clubs in Roseto declined. There was even a decline in church attendance at the local catholic church.”
If our social networks are Protective Factors for resilience, physical health and mental health, what are our modern day equivalents of these Community Protective Factors? We are not going to be able to turn back the clock and make us immobile, religious or go back to three or four generations under one roof.
Which brings me neatly to Harringay Online, which I think is a stunning example of a modern day Community Protective Factor. On the latest email I received there were 3525 members, 6416 discussions, 1437 events, 429 blog posts, 1412 photos. Hugh Flouch started the ning, and runs it with the help of others including lovely and bright Liz Ixer. Not only has Hugh developed the site to the beautiful platform of conversation and connection that it is, but he has also conducted some wonderful research recently published called the Online Neighbourhood Networks Study.
If knowing people in your community, to say hello to, to do enjoyable things with, to have difficult conversations with, to look out for other people, is a Community Protective Factor what else is important?
- Being able to walk about the community rates high apparently. A study published a few months ago showed that that walkable neighbourhoods had higher social capital, higher levels of trust etc.
- Citizen-led activities rate high on my list - ones that cut through demographics of age, income and race.
- Opportunities for people to contribute their talents and ideas.
- A new view of 'common' spaces.....
What else do you think are 21st Century Community Protective Factors?
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| "In the planning and designing of new communities, housing projects, and urban renewal, the planners both public and private, need to give explicit consideration to the kind of world that is being created for the children who will be growing up in these settings. Particular attention should be given to the opportunities which the environment presents or precludes for involvement of children with persons both older and younger than themselves." Urie Bronfenbrenner |
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