How Social Capital Affects Resource Sharing

Abstract

This is a fun, in-class activity that teaches students the ways social capital affects resource distribution. It is best done after students have been exposed, either through reading or lectures, to the idea of social capital. It does not teach them about social capital so much as it teaches them some of the potential ramifications of social capital,...

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Details

Subject Area(s):

Introduction to Sociology/Social Problems

Resource Type(s):

Class Activity

Class Level(s):

Any Level

Class Size(s):

Any

Usage Notes

I have run this in classes with roughly thirty students, however, this activity can be scaled to any size class as it is run in groups of four and requires minimal preparation. Students create groups of four and take on roles of Persons A, B, C and D. The roles vary in resource power, as A can make all four of the resources, B can make three of the...

Learning Goals and Assessments

Learning Goal(s):

1. Students will learn the importance of social capital in facilitating resource distribution.
2. Students will apply these concepts of inequality and social capital to real life.
3. Students will learn how to understand their own needs in the context of the group's needs.

Goal Assessment(s):

1. Besides experiencing it in this admittedly artificial setting, this resource includes discussion questions to make explicit everything that is implicit in the activity itself as well as an assessment of the students' answers to evaluate learning.
2. Discussion questions unpack these ideas and apply them to society. Again, this includes an informal rubric to assess student learning.
3. Certain group situations encourage the students to act in self-interested or other-regarding ways. This will be made evident when the groups high in social capital have higher survival rates than the groups low in social capital.