Social Capital and Health

Economic capital is in people’s bank accounts and human capital is inside their heads, social capital is something that exists in the structure of their relationships. So to possess social capital, a person must be related to others, and it is those others, who are the actual source of his or her advantage. These social connections that people have within their communities are receiving growing interest in public health research due to increased interest in the social determinants of health. This interest is rooted, in the potential for people’s social connections to reduce health inequities through the mobilization of resources in society to better facilitate access to social capital. It is also believed to improve the capacity of communities to work together to solve collective health problems. Research on oral health is not as extensive as related to general health.This research literature provides a range of starting points for developing hypothesis about the pathways between community networks and relations on the one hand, and health on the other.