![]() ![]() Putnam 2000 was on the New York Times bestseller list and represents what the majority of those outside of academia understand as neighborhood social cohesion. These introductory works provide social workers with a broad and fundamental understanding of the literature related to neighborhood social cohesion. This bibliography is intended to provide a starting place for those interested in learning more about neighborhood social cohesion as a program and intervention strategy. ![]() Many community-based anti-poverty programs, whether small and local or larger and international in scope, focus on the mediating power of neighborhood social cohesion to address negative aspects of the ecological environment in which individuals and families live. Social capital, the most popular, is often a catch-all for all the social processes that occur in a neighborhood or community. Community capacity refers to the skills and power embedded within the trusting relationships in a community. Social networks typically involve a methodological approach that focuses on linkages between people in the network. Collective efficacy includes informal social control, in addition to social cohesion. Social ties are often conceptualized as a simple count of relationships. The distinctions between these neighborhood social processes are not always clear in the literature. These related concepts have substantial overlap they all involve social relationships and they are all concerned with how relationships benefit an individual actor. The most popular of these concepts is social capital, which is widely used outside of academia to discuss the importance of social relationships as a means of acquiring capital. The concept of neighborhood social cohesion is similar to other neighborhood social processes, such as collective efficacy, community capacity, sense of community, social capital, social networks, and social ties. ![]() Neighborhoods represent the context for which social cohesion has the most proximal daily impact for social workers working with vulnerable families. While social cohesion can be conceptualized at different aggregates, for example, communities, cities, or even nations, this bibliography focuses on social cohesion conceptualized at the neighborhood level. Research supports that neighborhood social cohesion is an important mediator for family health, safety, and overall well-being. For example, someone with strong, trusting relationships in the neighborhood can ask for help babysitting, they can alleviate stress by talking to a neighbor about a personal crisis, or they can get referral information from neighbors about a local food pantry in a month where they are short of money. Theory suggests, and research supports, that there is a latent resource available in socially cohesive relationships that can be used to access real goods and services. Neighborhood social cohesion is the trusting network of relationships and shared values and norms of residents in a neighborhood. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |