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Topic · Sociology and Political Science

Social Capital and Networks

Social Capital and Networks is a research topic within Sociology and Political Science. Science Explorer counts 14k research works in it since 1950. 10.2% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers explores the concept of social capital, trust, and community networks, examining their implications for civic engagement, inequality, diversity, and economic development. It delves into the role of social capital in fostering social cohesion and building civil society, with a focus on the impact of trust on various aspects of community life.

  • Social Capital
  • Trust
  • Community
  • Networks
  • Civic Engagement
  • Inequality
  • Diversity
  • Civil Society
  • Economic Development
  • Social Cohesion
Research works
14k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
1.4k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.2%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
-5%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
United States
31% of the 10 largest, 2022-now
Social Capital and Networks

Which countries lead Social Capital and Networks research?

By volume, the United States and China publish the most (498 and 398 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 United States 498 works
  2. 2 China 398 works
  3. 3 United Kingdom 146 works
  4. 4 Germany 136 works
  5. 5 Italy 87 works
  6. 6 Indonesia 82 works
  7. 7 Netherlands 62 works
  8. 8 Spain 60 works
  9. 9 Canada 59 works
  10. 10 Türkiye 59 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

United States: 31.4%China: 25.1%United Kingdom: 9.2%Germany: 8.6%6 others listed: 25.8%31%largest
United States498 · 31.4%China398 · 25.1%United Kingdom146 · 9.2%Germany136 · 8.6%6 others listed409 · 25.8%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Social Capital and Networks research?

By volume in 2022-now, Renmin University of China publishes the most Social Capital and Networks research, followed by Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Duke University.

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 Renmin University of ChinaChina 12 works
  2. 2 Centre National de la Recherche ScientifiqueFrance 11 works
  3. 3 Duke UniversityUnited States 10 works
  4. 4 Fudan UniversityChina 10 works
  5. 5 Islamic Azad University, TehranIran 10 works
  6. 6 Sapienza University of RomeItaly 9 works
  7. 7 University of ChicagoUnited States 9 works
  8. 8 Indiana UniversityUnited States 9 works
  9. 9 Leibniz AssociationGermany 9 works
  10. 10 Peking UniversityChina 9 works

Who are the leading researchers in Social Capital and Networks?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Social Capital and Networks include Ronald C. Kessler, Mika Kivimäki and Martin McKee.

  1. 1 Ronald C. Kessler United States 360k citations
  2. 2 Mika Kivimäki United Kingdom 318k citations
  3. 3 Martin McKee United Kingdom 270k citations
  4. 4 Pierre Bourdıeu France 268k citations
  5. 5 Josep María Haro Spain 250k citations
  6. 6 Azeem Majeed United Kingdom 235k citations
  7. 7 Andrei Shleifer United States 234k citations
  8. 8 Albert-Ĺaszló Barabási United States 223k citations
  9. 9 Norito Kawakami Japan 202k citations
  10. 10 Harry Eugene Stanley United States 198k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

What are the most cited papers in Social Capital and Networks?

The most cited paper in Social Capital and Networks is "The Strength of Weak Ties" (Mark S. Granovetter, 1973), with 39,087 citations. Next come "Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital" (21,799) and "Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks" (18,875).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 The Strength of Weak Ties Mark S. Granovetter · American Journal of Sociology May 1973 39,087
2 Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital Jenell S. Coleman · Elsevier eBooks Book chapter 2000 21,799
3 Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks Miller McPherson, Lynn Smith‐Lovin, James M. Cook · Annual Review of Sociology Review Aug 2001 18,875
4 Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology Alejandro Portes · Annual Review of Sociology Review Aug 1998 12,059
5 The Benefits of Facebook “Friends:” Social Capital and College Students’ Use of Online Social Network Sites Nicole B. Ellison, Charles W Steinfield, Cliff A.C. Lampe · Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication Open access Jul 2007 9,954
All 98 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Social Capital and Networks research done?

The largest centres of Social Capital and Networks research in 2022-now are Beijing (China), Shanghai (China), London (United Kingdom) and Moscow (Russia).

Largest cities, 2022-now

  1. 1 BeijingChina 73 works
  2. 2 ShanghaiChina 35 works
  3. 3 LondonUnited Kingdom 34 works
  4. 4 MoscowRussia 33 works
  5. 5 Hong KongChina 26 works
  6. 6 SeoulSouth Korea 26 works
  7. 7 WuhanChina 26 works
  8. 8 NanjingChina 24 works
  9. 9 TokyoJapan 21 works
  10. 10 GuangzhouChina 20 works
See Social Capital and Networks on the map

Where is the best place to study Social Capital and Networks?

Among universities, judged by research, Renmin University of China, Duke University and Stanford University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%10%20%30%mean 13.82%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Stanford UniversityRenmin University of…University of ChicagoDuke University
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Renmin University of ChinaChina 75.514.5%16.2×12 +37.7%
2Duke UniversityUnited States 64.13.4%5.6×10 +76.6%
3Stanford UniversityUnited States 62.518.5%2.5×8 +25.2%
4University of ChicagoUnited States 62.113.3%4.7×9 +87.4%
5Sapienza University of RomeItaly 57.520.1%3.5×9 +203.8%
6Chongqing UniversityChina 56.126.3%3.4×8 +191.9%
7Fudan UniversityChina 53.214.0%2.8×10 +60.8%
8Peking UniversityChina 42.611.0%1.9×9 +96.7%
9Michigan State UniversityUnited States 37.88.1%5.0×8 -13.0%
10Indiana UniversityUnited States 34.89.0%4.1×9 -52.3%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Social Capital and Networks, country by country

Is Social Capital and Networks research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 5% lower than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2015.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon: one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Social Capital and Networks as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0088% in 2024.

still counting0.010%0.020%Social Capital and Networks0.010% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Social Capital and Networks over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Social Capital and Networks10.7% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.

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