ABSTRACT
This chapter explains many respects unique, family-based social capital takes various forms, each with its own distinct logic. It reviews the evidence pointing to the functional importance of family members beyond the nuclear family. The chapter proposes two alternate conceptualizations of relational resources provided by families in terms of either bonding or bridging social capital. It proceeds by showing that these two kinds of social capital depend on the composition of family configurations. One important result of research on social networks is that relationships tend to promote a state of transitivity or so called 'balance'. Social capital is a multidimensional construct. Bridging and bonding social capitals should not be regarded as opposites, as they may, in some cases, appear together. In family configurations characterized by blood relationships, individuals are embedded in dense sets of interdependencies. In friendship family configurations, bridging social capital is hence dominant. These 'star-like' family configurations split into several separate sub-groups when respondents are removed.
