Embedded Files
Lack of Association Between Community Social Cohesion and Distribution of Social Capital
Lack of Association Between Community Social Cohesion and Distribution of Social Capital
Ansley Warnock and Bram Tucker
Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia
In response to recent trends in increasing atomization and isolation worldwide, there has been a revitalization of interest in how social support affects individual health, perhaps best exemplified by the recent creation of the World Health Organization’s Commission for Human Connection. Alongside this, interest in how social cohesion affects community health has also made a resurgence, particularly regarding its effect on community resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent recovery efforts. It’s been found that many of the mechanisms that lend both elements of sociality their benefit to health overlap. Among these include access to information from trusted sources and, in turn, trust in the authorities implementing health interventions. Still, there exists a gap in the literature about the relationship between community social metrics and the distribution of social support within communities, leaving many questions unanswered about how the mechanisms that benefit health interact. Using a set of questionnaire data from NSF-funded research project BCS 1733917, PI Tucker from the southwestern region of Madagascar, I regressed social cohesion against a metric of social support inequality, expecting to find that higher community cohesion would be correlated with a more equal distribution of social support, given social cohesion’s theoretical basis in inter-group connectedness. Instead, I found no association. These results introduce the possibility of communities with high social cohesion that have a couple of cliques but many outside of these cliques falling through the gaps. Many questions about the nature of isolation are raised accordingly, particularly regarding the spillover effects that social cohesion as an institution has on those who are isolated. Further research into these questions could have important implications for public health interventions for outcomes requiring high compliance as well as implications for solutions to the question of social isolation point blank.
In response to recent trends in increasing atomization and isolation worldwide, there has been a revitalization of interest in how social support affects individual health, perhaps best exemplified by the recent creation of the World Health Organization’s Commission for Human Connection. Alongside this, interest in how social cohesion affects community health has also made a resurgence, particularly regarding its effect on community resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent recovery efforts. It’s been found that many of the mechanisms that lend both elements of sociality their benefit to health overlap. Among these include access to information from trusted sources and, in turn, trust in the authorities implementing health interventions. Still, there exists a gap in the literature about the relationship between community social metrics and the distribution of social support within communities, leaving many questions unanswered about how the mechanisms that benefit health interact. Using a set of questionnaire data from NSF-funded research project BCS 1733917, PI Tucker from the southwestern region of Madagascar, I regressed social cohesion against a metric of social support inequality, expecting to find that higher community cohesion would be correlated with a more equal distribution of social support, given social cohesion’s theoretical basis in inter-group connectedness. Instead, I found no association. These results introduce the possibility of communities with high social cohesion that have a couple of cliques but many outside of these cliques falling through the gaps. Many questions about the nature of isolation are raised accordingly, particularly regarding the spillover effects that social cohesion as an institution has on those who are isolated. Further research into these questions could have important implications for public health interventions for outcomes requiring high compliance as well as implications for solutions to the question of social isolation point blank.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse