Functions of social capital – bonding, bridging, linking

The difference between bonding and bridging social capital relates to the nature of the relationships or associations in the social group or community. Bonding social capital is within a group or community whereas bridging social capital is between social groups, social class, race, religion or other important sociodemographic or socioeconomic characteristics. The bonding/bridging distinction can be made in relation to a range of relationship and network characteristics. Robert Putman in his book Bowling Alone discussed bonding social capital is good for “getting by” and bridging is crucial for “getting ahead” (Putnam 2000). Putnam credit these terms to Ross Gittell and Avis Vidal (Gittell and Vidal 1998). Scholars at the World Bank are credited with adding the concept of linking social capital to describe relationships among people or institutions at different levels of societal power hierarchy (Woolcock, 2001; Szreter and Woolcock, 2004). Some authors include linking to make the three-way distinction between bonding, bridging, and linking social capital.