Final report - Integrated Land Management Bureau

engagement would build social capital, would it not?). They concluded that while
generalized trust is good proxy for social capital, institutionalized trust is not.
Knack and Keefer (1997) also found that trust and civic cooperation have significant
impacts on aggregate economic activity.
Kawachi et al. (1999), Cote (2001), Veenstra (2001), ARAD (2007) and Knack and
Keefer (1997) have studied the role of social capital on health. In a study by Kawachi et
al. (1999), indicators of social capital (trust, levels of perceived reciprocity, and per
capita membership in voluntary organizations) were found to be correlated with increased
life expectancy in the U.S. Individuals who lacked social connections had two to three
times the risk of dying from all causes compared with well-connected individuals.
The Applied Research and Analysis Directorate (ARAD) (2007) published a working
paper that discusses the relationship between social capital and health factors such as
mortality rates, efficacy of health program promotion, and health behaviors at various
geographic scales. The ARAD report adds that “the higher the level of social capital in a
community, the better the health status.” The ARAD concluded that “despite the presence
of debate [in the literature], there is some consensus on the indicators that are used most
frequently to measure social capital. These include: trust (both generalized and trust in
institutions) as measured through survey questions that ask respondents to rate their level
of generalized and institutional trust; civic engagement as measured by participation in
organizations and community/cultural activities. These lead to increased social networks
measured by individual perceptions of their social support. In addition, identification with
the community as a critical part of their personal identity has been identified as a key
measure by Matthews, Knack and Keefer, and others.
The concept of social capital was brought to public light by author Robert Putnam in his
2000 book Bowling Alone: America’s Declining Social Capita and earlier work in Italy
that showed links between social networks and other HWB factors. Putnam observed that
declining social networks and organizations were associated with declining social and
economic conditions. While many measurements of HWB are well established and data
are available through Statistics Canada, the measurement of social processes requires
primary data collection.
Sense of place is defined as the meanings and attachment held for a geographic area by
individuals and has been shown to contribute to social capital, and thus health and
economic well-being. Sense of place has been measured three ways: satisfaction towards
the condition of the place, attachment to the place as a reflection of one’s sense of self,
and descriptions of meanings a place has for an individual (Stedman 1999). The logic of
sense of place would imply that strategies that lead to increased percentage of workers in
the North and Central Coast who are permanent residents would lead to increased sense
of place and social capital and thus have both positive health and economic implications.
Matthews et al. (2005) assessed sense of commitment to place in coastal B.C.
communities by asking survey respondents to respond to the statement “I would move
away from this community if a good job came up somewhere else.” They found that
individual and community social characteristics were correlated with willingness to stay
but economic factors were not significantly correlated with willingness to stay.
23