On Putnam : Bowling Together - Applying Putnam’s Theories of Community and Social Capital to Public Relations

Although the concept of Social Capital is by no means new, it has certainly spread more widely due to the writings of Robert D. Putnam. His writings have underlined the importance of civic engagement and social ties for the welfare of individuals and societies at large. Putnam’s theories lay the foundation for an understanding of the broader societal functions of public relations, and offer useful concepts and ideas for both theory and practice. Putnam’s theory of social capital posits that the success of societies greatly depends on the horizontal bonds of collaboration: only trust-filled long-term relations, such as associations and clubs, are able to generate the cohesion that brings societal benefits such as lower crime rates, increased health, happiness and even economic prosperity. Understanding how a sense of community is fostered is vital as society continues to polarize and it becomes the task of communication professionals to build bridges between opposing views. The creation and maintenance of organizational social capital can be seen as a foundation for public relations. In fact, organizations with reciprocal, trusting stakeholder networks can be understood as having high amounts of social capital, which in turn makes organizations resilient and anti-fragile even in a chaotic environment.