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The Relationship Between Social Capital and Poverty in Small Iowa Towns in 2014

In the discussions of social capital in Americas small towns, our thoughts may often turn to

the idealized images of small town life. Patriotic gatherings of town residents, with unfurled

American flags proudly carried by young Scouts and American Legion Color Guards. Parents

and supporters turning out to cheer on the local high school sports teams. Neighbors and

strangers, pulling together in a time of community crisis.

Who are the people in those idealized images? In Iowa, the people in those images might not

who we expect. Evidence suggests

Social capital has been defined by Putnam (1995), Halstead and Deller (2015) as: features of

social organization such as networks, norms, and social trust that facilitate coordination and

cooperation for mutual benefit. Variations of social capital are defined by the type and strength

of social relationships between individuals and groups.

Szreter and Woolcock (2003) describe bonding social capital as the trusting relationships and

cooperation among members of a network, who have identified similar characteristics between

one another in terms of their social identity. The individuals and groups in these relationships are

characterized as having strong ties, such as family members, close friendships, and neighborly

relationships.

In contrast, bridging social capital is constructed through the respectful relationships between

people who do not share common social or demographic identities. An analogy of this social

capital relationship might be the connectiveness of folks who live on the other side of the

tracks. These relationships have been shown to more valuable in community improvement

projects. Putnam (1995) focuses his attention on the decline of bridging social capital in

American society.

A third variation of social capital is linking social capital. Linking can best be described as the

norms of respect and networks of trusting relationships between individuals and groups who
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interact across formal or gradient lines of power (Szreter and Woolcock, 2003). These

relationships are identified as being vertical in nature. It is often through these linking

relationships that valuable resources are acquired from external sources for development

purposes.

Using social capital data collected from the 2014 Iowa Small Town Study 1 and data from the

2013 American Community Survey 2, there is very basic evidence suggesting weak, but positive

relationships between the three categories of social capital and the percentage small town

families who live below the federal poverty guidelines.

The strongest relationship with percentages of 2013 poverty in small Iowa towns is with

bridging social capital (r = .231). This could

suggest a willingness of citizens to pull together

for community projects, in small towns with

higher rates of poverty. Bonding social capital, the

strong ties typically observed between family

members or close friends, while weak, is also positive (r = .209). Linking social capital, the

vertical ties to resources which exist outside the community appear to be very weak, but remain

positive (r = .107). It must be noted, however, that this relationship is not statistically significant.

It is important to remember, these are only correlations, and do not speak to causality of any

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1 https://smalltowns.soc.iastate.edu/iowa-small-town-poll/
2 https://www.census.gov/acs/www/data/data-tables-and-tools/data-profiles/2013/
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specific condition. However, this evidence can provide a starting point in investigating how

social capital might affect public participation in community development programs and

development projects. This data may also serve as a reminder the strength of social relationships

should not be judged on economic conditions. The conditions in a small town might be impacted

by the levels of local social capital. In turn, social capital may be affected by the conditions in

small towns.

Resources

Halstead, J. M., & Deller, S. C. (Eds.). (2015). Social capital at the community level: An applied
interdisciplinary perspective (Vol. 7). Routledge.
Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. Journal of
democracy, 6(1), 65-78.
Szreter, S., & Woolcock, M. (2004). Health by association? Social capital, social theory, and the
political economy of public health. International journal of epidemiology, 33(4), 650-667.