Social capital is the wealth held in human relationships — the bonds, trust, access, and advocacy that sustain a community and let it act together.
Social capital spans the full range of human connection, from the life-supporting relationships that meet basic needs to the looser wealth of friendship, belonging, and community. Sociologists and economists use the term for the shared value that emerges from these ties. In 📝The Ascent of Humanity, 📝Charles Eisenstein traces how modernity converts this relational wealth into monetized services — each function once a gift between neighbors becoming a transaction between strangers.
📝One Inc's 📝Types of Capital framework gave social capital a sharp working definition — voice: advocacy, introductions, access, and advisory relationships offered on behalf of the community. When a member opened a door or vouched for the cooperative, that contribution was recorded in 📝One Ledger alongside money and time.
Naming social capital as capital insists that a relationship deployed in service of others is not a favor outside the economy — it is the economy.