Abstract
The concept of social capital has fired the imagination of scholars, policy makers and even activists engaged in the study and practice of social change, both planned and secular. Its popularity stems partly from a promise that its presence could lead to greater integration into the community, participation in civic affairs, better public health and overall comity and cohesion among disparate social groups (Hendryx, Ahern, Lovrich, & McCurdy, 2002; Kawachi & Berkman, 2000; Kawachi & Kennedy, 1997; Kawachi, Kennedy, Lochner, & Prothrow-Stith, 1997; Sampson, Raudenbush, & Earls, 1997; Scheufele & Shah, 2000; Subramanian, Kim, & Kawachi, 2002). This promise is partly responsible for its enormous popularity in a variety of fields including political science, sociology, communication and public health.
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Viswanath, K. (2008). Social Capital and Health Communications. In: Kawachi, I., Subramanian, S., Kim, D. (eds) Social Capital and Health. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-71311-3_12
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