ABSTRACT
Researchers and thinkers right across the social sciences are engaging with ideas of social capital. Scholars have drawn on the work of Putnam, Coleman and Bourdieu to provide a theoretical framework for examining the impact of people’s networks on their life chances. Researchers have uncovered an extraordinary range of ways in which people’s networks can help make their lives better. There is even a study of pets and social capital; its four authors studied pet owners in three Australian neighbourhoods, and found that they had a stronger sense of community and more social interactions than non-owners (Wood et al. 2007). Conversely, it is well established in the social sciences that socially isolated people face severe risks to their well-being (Meeuwesen et al. 2001).
