ABSTRACT
In an era where the public has greater access to information than ever before, why is it that social capital in many communities is so divided and diminished? Traditionally, people have experienced and generated social capital through direct contact with families and social spaces, including neighbourhoods, communities, clubs and the workplace. The relationship between social spaces and social capital has never been more contested or important to our understanding of how we live. According to J. Coleman, the implicit sense of obligation, expectation and trustworthiness was central to social spaces when public good flourished. For R. D. Putnam (ibid), social capital is expressed through social cohesion where community is unified by common understandings, relationships, trust and reciprocity. Furthermore, this loss of social capital, expressed as a loss of sociability and social cohesion, is having a devastating effect on trust in institutions, in expert knowledge and in our capacity to chart a better course.
