Translation | Ellison’s review on Social Capital (2)

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Mar 27, 2020

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ellison-review-social-capital-2

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There are two complementary perspectives on the importance of friendship maintenance, particularly in the U.S. college-aged population. First, relationships help generate social capital (Lin,1999) and are important components of psychosocial development for emerging adults (Sullivan, 1953). For the college-age populations, sites like Facebook may play a vital role in maintaining relationships that would otherwise be lost as these individuals move from the geographically bounded networks of their hometown. Second, there is also growing evidence that Internet use in general, and social network sites like Facebook in particular, may be associated with a person's sense of self-worth and other measures of psychosocial development, although the positive or negative contributions of Internet use to psychological well-being are hotly debated (Kraut, Patterson, Lundmark, Kiesler, Mukhopadhyay, & Scherlis, 1998; Kraut, Kiesler, Boneva, Cummings, Helgeson, & Crawford, 2002; Shaw & Gant, 2002; Valkenburg et al., 2006).

1.1. Social capital, relationships and Internet use 社会资本、关系与互联网使用

关于友情维护的重要性，尤其是在美国大学生群体中，有两种互补的观点。其一，人际关系有助于产生社会资本（Lin,1999），也是为成年期形成的心理社会发展的重要组成部分（Sullivan,1953）。对于大学年龄段的人群来说，像 Facebook 这样的网站可能在维持人际关系方面发挥着至关重要的作用，否则，会因个体离开家乡的地理上联结的社会网络而丢失。其二，也有越来越多的证据表明，一般来说，互联网的使用，特别是像 Facebook 这样的社交网站，可能与一个人的自我价值感和其他社会心理发展的衡量标准有关，尽管人们对互联网的使用对心理健康的积极或消极贡献还在激烈争论 (Kraut, Patterson, Lundmark, Kiesler, Mukhopadhyay, & Scherlis, 1998; Kraut, Kiesler, Boneva, Cummings, Helgeson, & Crawford, 2002; Shaw & Gant, 2002; Valkenburg et al., 2006).

1.1.1. Relationships and social capital 关系与社会资本

Although social capital is an elastic term with a variety of definitions in multiple fields (Adler & Kwon, 2002), there is general consensus that it refers broadly to the benefits we receive from our social relationships (Lin, 1999). It can be conceived in negative terms, such as when non-group members are excluded from having access to the same benefits as members (Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; Helliwell & Putnam, 2004), but is generally perceived to be positive (Adler & Kwon, 2002). It has been linked to such diverse outcomes as career advancement (Burt, 1997), organizational success (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998), and many other positive social outcomes such as better public health and lower crime rates (Adler & Kwon, 2002). Social capital has also been linked to the psychological and physical well-being of young people. In a wide-ranging review, Morrow (1999) found that despite a lack of consistent definition and measurement, prior work suggests that young people with more social capital are more likely to engage in behaviors that lead to better health, academic success, and emotional development. The ability to form and maintain relationships is a necessary precondition for the accumulation of social capital. For example, Coleman (1988) describes social capital as resources accumulated through the relationships among people. Lin (1999) extends this notion by emphasizing the importance of developing a social network, considering social capital to arise from “investments in social relations with expected returns” (p. 30) and suggests that the benefits arise from the greater “access to and use of resources embedded in social networks” (p. 30). Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) define social capital as “the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition” (p. 14).

尽管社会资本是一个在多个领域有不同的定义的弹性术语（Adler & Kwon, 2002），但普遍的共识是，社会资本是指我们从社会关系中获得的利益（Lin, 1999）。它可以被认为是消极的，例如当非群体成员被排除在群体成员之外，无法获得与群体成员相同的利益（Bourdieu & Wacquant, 1992; Helliwell & Putnam, 2004），但一般认为是积极的（Adler & Kwon, 2002）。社会资本与职业发展（Burt, 1997）、组织成功（Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998）以及许多其他积极的社会成果，如更好的公共卫生和更低的犯罪率等都有关系（Adler & Kwon, 2002）。社会资本也与年轻人的心理和身体健康有关。Morrow（1999）在一项广泛的研究中发现，尽管缺乏一致的定义和衡量标准，但先前的工作表明，拥有更多社会资本的年轻人更有可能参与到导致更好的健康、学业成功和情感发展的行为中。形成和维持人际关系的能力是社会资本积累的必要前提。例如，Coleman（1988）将社会资本描述为通过人际关系积累的资源。Lin（1999）扩展了这一概念，强调了发展社会网络的重要性，认为社会资本来自于 "对社会关系的投资与预期收益的投资"(p. 30) ，并认为收益来自于更多的 "获取和使用社会网络中蕴含的资源"(p. 30) 。Bourdieu 和 Wacquant (1992) 将社会资本定义为 "个人或群体因拥有一个或多或少制度化的相互认识和认可的持久网络而获得的现实或虚拟资源的总和" (p. 14)。

1.1.2. Forms of social capital 社会资本的形式

It is important to distinguish between conceptions of social capital at the individual and relationship level, and conceptions at the community level (Lin, 1999), although we might consider the latter to be an aggregate of the former. For example, community social capital has been viewed as being on the decline in the U.S. for the past several years (Putnam, 2000), a trend associated with increased social disorder, reduced participation in civic activities, and potentially more distrust among community members. On the other hand, greater social capital increases commitment to a community and the ability to mobilize collective actions, among other benefits. At the individual level, social capital allows individuals to capitalize on their connections with others, accruing benefits such as information or support.

区分个人层面、关系层面和社区层面的社会资本概念是重要的 (Lin, 1999)，尽管我们或许认为，后者是前者的总和。例如，过去几年来，美国的社区社会资本被认为是在美国的社会资本呈下降趋势(Putnam, 2000)，这种趋势与社会无序性的增加、公民活动参与度的降低以及社区成员之间的不信任感的增加有关。另一方面，在诸多好处中，更多的社会资本会增加对社区的承诺和动员集体行动的能力。在个人层面，社会资本允许个人利用与他人的联系，积累如信息支持等福利。

Our focus is on individual-level social capital, where research has generally distinguished between two broad types: bonding and bridging social capital (Putnam, 2000). Bonding social capital is found between individuals in tightly-knit, emotionally close relationships, such as family and close friends. Bridging social capital, the focus of the present paper, stems from what network researchers refer to as “weak ties,” which are loose connections between individuals who may provide useful information or new perspectives for one another but typically not emotional support (Granovetter, 1983). Access to individuals outside one's close circle provides access to non-redundant information, resulting in benefits such as employment connections (Granovetter, 1973). Although bridging social capital is viewed as an individual-level construct, prior research has conceptualized it in a community context (Putnam, 2000; Williams, 2006). Williams (2006) includes dimensions such as the extent to which people see themselves as part of a broader group and exhibit norms of giving within a broader community in the construct.

本研究重点是个人层面的社会资本，就此而言，社会资本通常被分为两类：结合型社会资本和桥接型社会资本（Putnam, 2000）。结合社会资本，是在紧密联系、情感紧密的个人之间发现的社会资本，如家庭和亲密朋友等关系中。桥接社会资本是当前研究的重点，它起源于那些被研究者称之为 "弱联系"的个体之间的松散联系，而这些人可能为彼此提供有用的信息或新的视角，但通常不存在情感支持（Granovetter, 1983）。与亲密圈外的个体接触可以获得非冗余的信息，从而产生就业联系等好处（Granovetter，1973）。虽然桥接社会资本被视为个人层面的建构，但先前的研究已经将其在社区语境下概念化（Putnam, 2000; Williams, 2006）。Williams (2006) 将如人们将自己视为更广泛群体的一部分并在更广泛的社区内表现出奉献的规范等维度纳入到建构中。

1.1.3. Psychological well-being and social capital 社会心理幸福与社会资本

Social capital researchers have found that various forms of social capital, including ties with friends and neighbors, are related to indices of psychological well-being, such as self-esteem and satisfaction with life (Bargh, McKenna, & Fitzsimons, 2002; Helliwell & Putnam, 2004). However, most research examining the connections between self-esteem, measures of well-being, and social capital emphasize the importance of family, intimate relationships, and close friends (Bishop & Inderbitzen, 1995; Keefe & Berndt, 1996). There is a need for additional research exploring the potential linkages between psychological well-being and the kinds of weak ties thought to enhance bridging social capital. Constant, Sproull, and Kiesler (1996) argue for such a linkage in their research documenting how people show gains in self-esteem when they provide technical advice to strangers over the Internet.

社会资本研究者已经发现，包括与朋友和邻居的联系等形式的社会资本都与如自尊和生活满意度心理幸福指数有关（Bargh, McKenna, & Fitzsimons, 2002；Helliwell & Putnam, 2004）。然而，大多数研究都在研究自尊、幸福指数和生活满意度之间的联系，以及，社会资本强调家庭、亲密关系和亲密朋友的重要性（Bishop & Inderbitzen, 1995；Keefe & Berndt, 1996）。进一步地探索心理社会幸福与被认为能增强桥接社会资本的弱联系之间的潜在联系的研究是必要的。Constant、Sproull 和Kiesler (1996) 就在他们的研究中论证了这种联系，记录了当人们通过互联网向陌生人提供技术咨询时如何表现出自尊心的提高。

1.1.4. Internet use, relationship development, and psychosocial well-being 互联网使用，关系发展和心理社会幸福

In the past decade, a number of studies have explored how Internet use might be related to psychological and social well-being with mixed results (e.g., Kraut et al., 1998; Kraut et al., 2002; McKenna & Bargh, 2000; Nie, 2001; Shaw& Gant, 2002; Valkenburg & Peter, 2007). Kraut et al. (1998) found that heavier Internet use was associated with various measures of loneliness, depression and stress. They argue that this was because weaker ties generated online were replacing stronger offline ties with family and friends. In a follow-up study, Kraut et al. (2002) found that when examined over a longer period of time, Internet use was no longer associated with decreased communication and involvement with family (and the associated measures of loneliness and depression). Indeed, the effects were generally positive. Of particular interest was their finding that measures of introversion and extraversion moderated the outcomes from Internet use, with extraverts more likely to experience benefits from their Internet use than introverts. Other researchers also argue that Internet use has positive impacts on psychological well-being (Bargh & McKenna, 2004; McKenna & Bargh; 2000; Shaw & Gant, 2002). Bargh and McKenna (2004) attribute this to the increases in online interactions, which mitigate any loss in communication with others due to time spent online. In an experiment, Shaw and Gant (2002) found decreases in perceived loneliness and depression as well as increases in perceived social support and self-esteem following engagement in online chat sessions. In related research, Valkenburg and Peter (2007) found that socially anxious adolescents perceived the Internet to be more valuable for intimate self-disclosure than non-socially anxious respondents, leading to more online communication.

过去十年里，一些研究探讨了互联网使用与心理和社会幸福的关系，但结果不尽相同(e.g., Kraut et al., 1998; Kraut et al., 2002; McKenna & Bargh, 2000; Nie, 2001; Shaw& Gant, 2002; Valkenburg & Peter, 2007)。Kraut 等（1998）发现，较重的互联网使用量与各种孤独感、抑郁症和压力的衡量标准有关。他们认为，这是因为网上产生的较弱的联系取代了与家人和朋友之间较强的线下联系。在一项跟踪研究中，Kraut 等（2002）发现，在较长的时间段内进行研究时，互联网的使用不再与减少与家人的沟通和参与度（以及相关的孤独感和抑郁症的衡量标准）有关。事实上，这些影响总体上是正面的。特别值得关注的是，他们发现内向型和外向型的衡量标准对使用互联网的结果有一定的调节作用，外向型的人比内向型的人更有可能从使用互联网中获益。其他研究者也认为，互联网的使用对心理健康有积极的影响（Bargh & McKenna, 2004; McKenna & Bargh; 2000; Shaw & Gant, 2002）。Bargh 和 McKenna(2004) 将其归因于在线互动的增加，这可以缓解因上网时间的增加而造成的与他人交流的损失。在一项实验中，Shaw和Gant（2002年）发现，感知到的孤独感和抑郁症会减少，感知到的社会支持和自尊也会增加。在参与在线聊天会话后。在相关研究中，Valkenburg和Peter（2007年）发现，与非社会焦虑的受访者相比，社会焦虑的青少年认为互联网对亲密的自我披露更有价值，从而导致更多的在线交流。

Despite the plethora of research on Internet use in general, research examining the complex relationships between psychological well-being and use of online social network services is scarce. In a notable exception, Valkenburg et al. (2006) found that the more people used social network sites, the greater the frequency of interaction with friends, which had positive benefits on respondents' self-esteem and ultimately their reported satisfaction with life.

尽管有大量关于互联网使用的研究，但研究心理健康与使用在线社交网络服务之间的复杂关系的研究却很少。Valkenburg等人（2006年）发现，在一个显著的例外情况下，人们使用社交网站的次数越多，与朋友互动的频率就越高，这对受访者的自尊心和最终对生活的满意度有积极的益处。

While considerable research shows that relationships are important elements of social development for young adults, this is also a time of life when relationships are interrupted as people move from one location to another. Entering college, moving between residences, graduating and entering the professional workforce are all events that could disrupt the maintenance of relationships of people in this demographic (Cummings, Lee, & Kraut, 2006). These individuals have an especially urgent need to be able to maintain connections with their previously inhabited networks while still being open to new experiences and relationships in their current geographical context. Hence, we would expect the Internet-based social networking services to play a role in the maintenance of relationships among this population of users.

尽管大量研究表明人际关系是年轻人社会发展的重要因素，但随着人们从一个地方搬到另一个地方，人际关系也会中断。进入大学、更换居住地、毕业和进入专业工作岗位，这些都可能会破坏这个人口群体中的人际关系的维持（Cummings, Lee, & Kraut, 2006）。这些人特别迫切地需要能够保持与他们以前居住的人际网络的联系，同时仍在他们目前的地理环境中对新的经验和关系持开放态度。因此，我们期望基于互联网的社交网络服务能够在维护这部分用户群体之间的关系中发挥作用。

1.1.5. Social capital and use of social network sites 社会资本与社交网站的使用

Researchers have started to explore the possibilities social network sites have for building social capital among users. Resnick (2001), for example, suggests that new forms ofsocial capital and relationship building will occur in social network sites due to the way that technologies like distribution lists, photo directories, and search capabilities support online linkages with others. Donath and boyd (2004) hypothesize that social network sites could increase the number of weak ties a user might be able to maintain because their affordances arewell-suited to maintaining these ties cheaply and easily. In particular, bridging social capital might be augmented by social network sites like Friendster or Facebook because they enable users to create and maintain larger, diffuse networks of relationships from which they could potentially draw resources (Donath & boyd, 2004; Resnick, 2001; Wellman, Haase, Witte, & Hampton, 2001). In one ofthe few attempts to examine the effect ofsocial network site use on social capital among young people, Ellison et al. (2007) surveyed users of Facebook at a large Midwestern University. They assessed levels of bridging and bonding social capital as well as “maintained” social capital, a form of social capital that speaks to one's ability to stay connected with members of a previously inhabited community. They found that intensity of Facebook use was a significant predictor ofbridging social capital, even after controlling for a range ofdemographic, general Internet use, and psychological wellbeing measures. The mean number offriends reported by these participantswas between 150 and 200. This relatively high number of friends suggests that these networks consist of larger, less intimate relationships as opposed to tightly-knit small groups. Moreover, Ellison et al. (2007) found that the relationship between Facebook use and bridging social capital was greater for low self-esteem students than for high self-esteem students, a finding that contradicts the Kraut et al. (2002) “rich get richer” finding that high extraversion subjects gained more from their Internet use than low extraversion subjects. Although introversion/ extraversion is not the same variable as self-esteem, such findings suggest that there is value in exploring the extent to which an individual's propensity to form relationships can be influenced in some way by their use of social network sites like Facebook. Ellison et al. (2007) looked only at cross-sectional relationships between Facebook use and the existence of social capital.

研究人员已经开始探索社交网络网站在用户之间建立社会资本的可能性。例如，Resnick(2001)认为，由于分发列表、照片目录和搜索功能等技术支持与他人建立在线联系的方式，新形式的社会资本和关系建设将在社交网站中出现。Donath 和 Boyd (2004)假设，社交网站可以增加用户可能维持的弱联系的数量，因为它们的负担能力很适合廉价而容易地维持这些联系。特别是，像 Friendster 或Facebook 这样的社交网站可能会增加桥接社会资本，因为它们使用户能够创建和维护更大的、分散的关系网络，并从中潜在地汲取资源 (Donath & boyd, 2004; Resnick, 2001; Wellman, Haase, Witte, & Hampton, 2001)。Ellison 等人（2007）在为数不多的研究社交网站使用对年轻人社交资本的影响的尝试中，对美国中西部一所大型大学的 Facebook 用户进行了调查，他们评估了桥接型和结合型社会资本的水平，以及 "被维持的 "社会资本（一种社会资本的形式，指一个人与以前居住的社区成员保持联系的能力）。他们发现，Facebook 的使用强度是桥接社会资本的重要预测因素，即使在控制了一系列的人口统计学、一般互联网使用和心理健康度量后，也是桥接社会资本的重要预测因素。这些受访者报告的平均好友数在 150 到 200 之间。此类相对较高的朋友数量表明，这些网络由更大的、不那么亲密的关系组成，而非紧密联系的小团体。此外，Ellison 等（2007）发现，低自尊的学生使用 Facebook 与桥接社会资本之间的关系比高自尊的学生更大，这一发现与Kraut等（2002）的 "富人越富 "的发现相矛盾，即高外向型受试者比低外向型受试者从网络使用中获得更多的收益。虽然内向/外向与自尊不是同一个变量，但这样的研究结果表明，探讨个体形成人际关系的倾向会在多大程度上受到他们使用 Facebook 等社交网站的影响是有价值的。Ellison 等（2007）仅考察了Facebook的使用与社会资本的存在之间的横断面关系。

Facebook use was strongly associated with the existence of bridging social capital, possibly indicating that young adults were using Facebook to maintain large and heterogeneous networks of friends. However, an equally plausible interpretation is that young adults with a large and heterogeneous network of friends had more motivation to manage this network with a service like Facebook. This would also result in a positive correlation, and a cross-sectional study cannot rule out such an explanation. Moreover, even if Facebook use did influence bridging social capital, it is not clear if such impacts are transient or enduring. Hence, the present study focused on the longitudinal effects of Facebook use.

Facebook 的使用与桥接社会资本的存在密切相关，这或许表明年轻的成年人使用 Facebook 来维持庞大的、异质的朋友网络。然而同样合理的解释是，拥有庞大且异质的朋友网络的年轻成年人有更强的动机使用 Facebook 这样的服务来管理这个网络。这同样会导致正相关，而横断面研究不能排除此种解释。另外，即使 Facebook 的使用确实影响了桥接社会资本，但这种影响是短暂的还是持久的仍未明了。因此，本研究重点研究了 Facebook 使用的纵向影响。

Steinfield, C., Ellison, N. B., & Lampe, C. (2008). Social capital, self-esteem, and use of online social network sites: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 29(6), 434-445.