ABSTRACT
This chapter describes social capital in such a way that cooperative research across the social sciences is not only possible, but encouraged. It defines social capital by demonstrating that it satisfies the essential requirements of capital and is social in nature. Just as economists increasingly believe that human intelligence is the core commodity that makes up human capital The chapter explains that sympathy is the core commodity which makes up social capital, and which emphasizes motive as the foundation of social capital. It proposes an elegantly simple definition of social capital that takes the capital metaphor seriously and accounts for the social relationships that are most capital-like in character. Sympathy is an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other. Therefore, social capital makes our welfare interdependent. The main point is that human sympathy is required to produce the socio-emotional goods (SEGs) that satisfy our most basic socio-emotional needs.
