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<p>Social capital is a concept discussed in recent years in many debates, particularly in the development context. The objective of the study is to investigate empirically whether social capital as part of networks could promote political participation of interest groups in the policy formulation process. This thesis includes a theoretical perspective which is based on an assessment and selection of theoretical material as well as fieldwork.</p>

In the past decade and a half or so, the pace of civil service reforms in Africa has increased with high profile donor support as well as a growing demand locally for improved service delivery, greater accountability and more transparency. The development partners have promoted the enhancement of an agreed set of principles that characterizes these good governance initiatives. The thesis considers good governance characterized by the elimination of waste, fraud and abuse as well as a diligent regard for the rule of law. The major strategic development partners considered here include the World Bank, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the European Union (EU). The thesis argument is that at present, the nature of social capital amongst the various Kenyan publics is a threat to the entrenchment of good governance principles in the civil service as espoused by major development partners. An attempt is made to interrogate the two concepts of good governance and social capital vis-à-vis the current trends of civil service reforms in Kenya. To develop the thesis, an international survey of the literature on good governance and social capital was carried out concurrently with a situational analysis of the Kenyan public provisioning in order to pinpoint policy implications for future reforms. This was done in order to obtain a theoretical angle to the major concerns of good governance that privilege participation and responsiveness in public provisioning. To answer pertinent questions in this regard, the Kenyan health sector was chosen as a mirror with which to analyze public provisioning in Kenya. The health sector was chosen because of the convenience it offers in terms of access as well as due to the fact that it makes it easy to interview and survey both the community of users as well as the service providers in one place (the hospital). The major finding was that abundant stocks of social capital exist amongst the various Kenyan publics; but it is mainly of the bonding and bridging type. There is need for society-wide civic education to inculcate the third element, that of linking social capital, in order to transcend the limitations of nepotism, tribalism, cronyism and other forms of corruption in public provisioning.

The problem of the black-white gross earnings gap is near its largest amongst lawyers; blacks earn a significantly lower income than whites (Dinovitzer et al. 2004; Grodsky and Pager 2001). There is also a white advantage in overall job satisfaction amongst lawyers (Payne-Pikus et al. 2010; Dau-Schmidt and Mukhopadhaya 1999). This study examines how social capital contributes to racial differences in these two aspects of overall job success. Social capital theories hypothesize that more social capital leads to increased job status attainment (Lin et al. 1981; Lin 2001). Blacks receive fewer and lower paying jobs than whites, perhaps in part because of a lack of social capital in their lower status and segregated social networks (Braddock and McPartland 1987; Elliot 1999; although see Mouw (2003) for a challenge which showed little to no effect of the use of contacts on earnings). Similarly, Ducharme and Martin (2000) found that social relationships with co-workers increase overall job satisfaction. This project specifically examines social capital in the attorney job market, because this is a specific job market in which there are strong theoretical reasons to expect social capital to affect wages and job satisfaction. Using Portes' (1998) definition of social capital, the ability to secure benefits from one's social networks, I distinguish between three major social networks (professional, non-professional, and kinship), and then derive hypotheses about their effect on earnings and job satisfaction. The main hypothesis is that black and white differences in professional and non-professional networks account for part of the earnings and job satisfaction inequality between blacks and whites. The study also develops competing hypotheses to test the effect of kinship networks on job satisfaction. This study takes a mixed methods approach. Nationally representative longitudinal data from the After the Juris Doctorate Survey (AJD) test the hypotheses to see if there is an effect of social capital on earnings and satisfaction. Qualitative interviews seek to further investigate these relationships and look for emerging themes for racial differences in earnings and job satisfaction. The interviews take place with nine black and white lawyers in Chicago. The survey results reveal the significance of professional social capital networks in obtaining a higher salary among private firm attorneys. The effects of social capital do not vary across race. However, there are some black-white differences in the types of social capital used. The interview results reveal the significance of social capital in acquiring clients in small private firms, and of mentor-protégé relationships. Concluding remarks discuss the significance of professional and non-professional social capital in and beyond the legal profession, explanations for the higher levels of social capital in whites, and suggestions for ways to decrease these racial social capital disparities.

Science policymakers and research evaluators are increasingly focusing on alternative methods of assessing the public investment in science and engineering research. Over the course of the last 20 years, scientific and engineering research centers with ties to industry have become a permanent fixture of the academic research landscape. Yet, much of the research on the careers patterns and productivity of researchers has focused on scientists rather than engineers, specific job changes rather than the career as a whole, and publication productivity measures rather than patent outcomes. Moreover, much of the extant research on academic researchers has focused exclusively on the academic component of careers. As universities increasingly take on roles than were once considered the responsibility of the private sectorsuch as securing patentsand build greater ties with industry, it is timely to reexamine the nature of the contemporary academic career. In this research, I draw on scientific and technical human capital theory to situate the central research question. Specifically, I examine the nature of the career pattern and publication and patent rates of scientists and engineers affiliated with federally-supported science and engineering research centers. The research makes use of curriculum vita (CV) data collected through the Research Value Mapping Program headquartered at the School of Public Policy. Tobit, Poisson, and Neural Network models are used in analyzing the data. In addition, I examine the career patterns of highly productive scholars and contrast those with less productive scholars. The findings suggest that the ways in which academic productivity and career patterns have been conceived may be in need of revision, with a greater attention to diverse productivity outcomes and diverse career patterns. Some of the interpretations of empirical findings in the literature may be misconceived. Moreover, it may be the case that postdoctoral fellowshipa common component of government support for scientific and engineering researchmay be associated with lower career productivity rates. This research contributes to our understanding of research careers with implications for public research policies. Finally, the relatively new method of analyzing CVs and appropriate modeling techniques and the challenges posed by this method are discussed.

Due to their arduous schedules, Korean high school students have little time to socialize with their peers face-to-face. Because of this, socializing in online environments is important to them. Using smartphone applications, Korean high school girls are creating their own cultural practices as they socialize. However, media repeatedly report concerns about adolescents’ excessive use of smartphones, and the public has begun to worry about children’s media dependence. In exploring these phenomena, I pose four research questions: 1) what do smartphones mean to South Korean high school girls? 2) How do South Korean high school girls socialize through mobile messengers, such as Kakao Talk, and how are these activities related to their social capital and social networks? 3) How do South Korean high school girls socialize through mobile social games connected to mobile messengers, and how are these activities related to their social capital and social networks? 4) How is Korean high school girls’ attachment to smartphones related to smartphone addiction? For this research, I conducted focus group interviews with 23 Korean high school girls about their smartphone use. The findings of this research revealed that 1) South Korean high school girls established an exceptional attachment to smartphones; 2) interviewees were complementing the deficiency of offline socializing by establishing alternative online communities through smartphone messengers, and these social behaviors were increasing their bonding social capital; 3) Korean high school girls were interacting with their strong ties through mobile social games, and the interactions with their weak ties were limited and superficial; and 4) Korean high school girls were at risk for smartphone addiction in accordance with the existing criteria for media addiction. / text

Social capital refers to the relationships between people that are productive: it can provide people with access to resources, ease transactions, and facilitate social and economic development at the community level. It has been conceptualized as both associations between people and attitudes of trust and cooperation that enable ties to be productive. Within communities, these attitudes underlie social cohesion, which can be defined as social integration and a propensity to cooperate and contribute to the community. Moreover, it is interaction and social engagement that develops social capital by creating and maintaining relationships and fostering social cohesion. This thesis presents an analysis of the development of social capital in coastal British Columbia by considering how the social participation of community members generates socially cohesive attitudes. Moreover, I empirically consider how this relationship varies for different people in different places and across two different types of participation. Formal participation refers to engagement in structured and organized group activities, such as rotary clubs or sports teams, while informal activities are casual irregular and often spontaneous, such as visiting with friends. Using a series of multiple linear regressions on survey data from rural coastal communities in British Columbia, I test how the relationship between these two types of participation and social cohesion varies according to people’s socio-demographic characteristics or the communities in which they live. Not only does this research consider who develops social capital in this way, but also whether the relationship between participation and social cohesion differ along these social lines. The results show that processes of social capital development reflect the characteristics and social environments of community members in coastal British Columbia. The variability shows that social capital development is embedded within particular contexts in ways can lead to inequalities in social capital.

Recent studies have focused on the study of social networks among local resource users, but few have attempted to study co-management networks. The objective of the research was to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Chilean shellfish co-management system from an organizational network perspective. Starting with one detailed case study, representatives of 38 small-scale fisher associations from two administrative regions were interviewed to investigate (1) networks of actors in each co-management arrangement, (2) the functions of these actors in co-management, and (3) fisher perceptions about Chile’s co-management arrangement. Results indicate that decision-making is highly centralized and power is concentrated in government, with little horizontal exchange and cooperation among fisher associations. However, the network approach indicates the presence of a rich set of players, some seven sets of actors by function. Grassroots management innovations are hampered by the existing co-management structure, suggesting that the system may benefit from a modification of the arrangements to allow greater learning-by-doing and increase in flexibility.

Recent studies have focused on the study of social networks among local resource users, but few have attempted to study co-management networks. The objective of the research was to assess the strengths and weaknesses of the Chilean shellfish co-management system from an organizational network perspective. Starting with one detailed case study, representatives of 38 small-scale fisher associations from two administrative regions were interviewed to investigate (1) networks of actors in each co-management arrangement, (2) the functions of these actors in co-management, and (3) fisher perceptions about Chile’s co-management arrangement. Results indicate that decision-making is highly centralized and power is concentrated in government, with little horizontal exchange and cooperation among fisher associations. However, the network approach indicates the presence of a rich set of players, some seven sets of actors by function. Grassroots management innovations are hampered by the existing co-management structure, suggesting that the system may benefit from a modification of the arrangements to allow greater learning-by-doing and increase in flexibility.

As a result of increased interest in the benefit of ties with others, researchers have been exploring the idea of social capital with increasing frequency over the past two decades (Portes, 1998). Although the volume of literature has accumulated and its application expanded, there has been a proliferation of misguided or poorly conceptualized social capital research (Portes, 2000; Furstenberg, 2005). This has not only affected its vigour (Portes, 1998), but has problematized its measurement. Although conceptualizing and defining have been heavily debated through the years, the issue of its measurement has received little more than casual scholarly recognition. Drawing on the works of Charles Lachenmeyer, this thesis offers a unique approach that merges dimensions of social capital measurement with aspects of “good” scientific practices to systematically review a sample of academic articles. Results suggest that assessments of the concept are problematized by article crafting and research-based problems.