Social capital: The social statin

The latest paper in our Social Capital 2025 series with Demos explores how social capital can offer a valuable entry point to improving community health and stability, alongside employment and economic growth.  

Here Dr Adam Coutts, Public Policy Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme and Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge, Shuting Xia from the Norwich Business School at the University of East Anglia, and Professor Ichiro Kawachi from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, explore the paper’s findings. 

Social capital is an important component in developing stable, productive and healthy neighbourhoods, communities and people. It is also, as Andy Haldane and David Halpern highlighted last month in their contribution to Social Capital 2025 – the new series of papers from Demos in partnership with Local Trust and 3ni – a critical contributor to economic dynamism and growth.  

In the series, we use the social capital definition of Kawachi et al as: ‘the resources available to individuals and communities through their social relationships and networks’. This definition originates from public health and social epidemiology, where social capital can be best seen in ​​action. It offers a workable and tangible definition that can be easily measured and put to work on the ground. 

However, the concept is often misunderstood by policy decision makers: sometimes derided as a ‘cheap’ option or misused as a catch-all fairy dust, without appreciation of what it means and how it can be created and maintained.  

So, what do social capital policy interventions look like? How is social capital created or sustained? And can an appreciation of its power and potential be integrated into existing policies and future policy design to improve people’s lives? 

For our health, [social capital] can be the networks that can shape our habits and behaviours and help to provide support when we need it, such as in a mental health crisis.

The active elements of the social statin: health by association

In neighbourhoods, communities and people’s day-to-day lives, social capital refers to the pragmatic support we find through our friends, neighbours and local community institutions. This could be when you need help with money or a helping hand with childcare, to eyes on the street when children are playing out, to the information that leads to local job opportunities.  

For our health, it can be the networks that can shape our habits and behaviours and help to provide support when we need it, such as in a mental health crisis. As we know from hundreds of years of research, going back to Emile Durkheim, if you are isolated and lonely you are more likely to be unhealthy and die younger.  

However, social capital is more than just social connections. It is the quality of these and what support and help you can access through them.  

The links between health outcomes and social capital

In the latest report in the Social Capital 2025 series, we show that: 

• Mental health outcomes demonstrate a strong link to social capital. Individual level social capital and support in particular shows robust protective effects against common mental health conditions. This finding suggests potential avenues for mental health interventions that focus on building and strengthening social connections.
• The relationship between social capital and mortality risk presents a more mixed picture. While structural aspects of social capital, such as participation and networks, show protective effects, some studies indicate that close household ties may have negative associations in certain contexts.  

This paradoxical finding highlights the complex nature of social capital’s influence on health outcomes. Turning to health behaviours, the research reveals that: 

• Family social capital is consistently protective for youth. 
• Community social capital shows more varied effects. For instance, there are marginal associations with reduced smoking, but no significant link with alcohol consumption.  

These findings underscore the importance of considering different types of social capital when developing health promotion strategies. Subjective wellbeing is another area where social capital shows significant influence:  

• Social support and trust are associated with better life evaluations, particularly in high- and middle-income countries. 
• Volunteering is linked to better life evaluations and positive emotions globally, suggesting potential benefits of promoting civic engagement for overall wellbeing.  

Social Capital 2025 shows the need for policies and interventions to create and strengthen existing community ties and social support networks, to ensure stability, health and wellbeing.

Preventative policy: How to take the social statin in real life and online? 

What most decision makers want to know is how to practically use social capital to promote desired outcomes (like better health) whilst avoiding the well-described ‘side effects’. Social capital and strong networks can generate both positive and harmful outcomes for individuals and communities; your friends and networks may demand conformity, lead you astray or encourage the exclusion of perceived outsiders. 

This is why people want to know how to ‘optimise’ the building of social capital, without falling into the trap of mindlessly advocating for increased social connections among lonely individuals or deprived communities – or designing fancy and expensive one-off interventions that may not work.  

They also want to know how we can use the sectors outside of the NHS to protect and promote social capital. This can prevent ill health and people ending up in the healthcare system, which of course saves everyone money

Social Capital 2025 shows the need for policies and interventions to create and strengthen existing community ties and social support networks, to ensure stability, health and wellbeing. Policy makers should first focus on identifying what stocks of social capital and networks exist in each community – particularly at the hyper local level.  

The next step is to identify social infrastructure where people can routinely engage with each other, such as at childcare, job centres, Saturday morning football or community forums for addressing local issues. These everyday spaces where people meet in their communities have many unanticipated gains for developing social support, stability and health.  

We also know from wider evidence that integrating social capital and social support development into institutions like Jobcentre Plus or other employment support provided by the Department for Work and Pensions could play a pivotal role in improving outcomes for individuals.  

A recent trial found that a five-day, intensive intervention delivered four hours per day helped to reduce mental health issues among unemployed participants. This was achieved by enhancing participants’ social support through getting to meet people like themselves, share experiences and spend time with those unlike themselves in terms of their work histories and mental health. These mixed groups of job seekers created social capital and social support. 

And then there’s the cyber or virtual networks that millions of children and adults participate in on a daily basis, via gaming and social media. This is the world of cyber social capital.  

Is it possible for policy to piggyback onto these networks to distribute health information content? Could influencers be used to promote healthy eating and exercise? Can an algorithm be used to enhance the positive forms of social capital? We know that cyber interventions can counter disinformation. Why not circulate healthy information among our online networks? 

Investing in the social statin: Recovery and outlook

Investing in social capital and people’s in-person and cyber networks should be a key component of the UK’s preventative health state.  

Supporting social capital offers a valuable entry point to improving community health and stability, alongside employment and economic growth. Identifying what social capital and networks exist within communities, especially how social infrastructure and the everyday, routine non-health sectors can be used to promote social capital and prevent ill health, is crucial.  

In the current crisis we cannot tech or spend our way out of social problems, particularly the state of the NHS and the nation’s health. As we and communities know, what influences health and wellbeing often lies outside of healthcare services and medicine, such as in the jobs we do, where we live and our social networks. 

Access all the papers and insights from the Social Capital 2025 series.

About the authors

• Dr Adam Coutts is a Public Policy Specialist at the United Nations Development Programme and Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge
• Dr Shuting Xia is from the Norwich Business School at the University of East Anglia
• Professor Ichiro Kawachi is from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health