The Social Capital Community Benchmark Survey

Highlights

[Community Highlights] [Press Release] [Survey Highlights] [Report]

In a place where business and technology networks are strong, the personal ties that bind us to each other and to our community are weak

In comparable communities individuals socialize with co-workers outside of work about 10 percent more than we do; in the nation as a whole they do this 22 percent more than us.
In comparable communities individuals "visit relatives or have them visit" about 15 percent more than we do; in the nation as a whole they do this 27 percent more than us.
We are less likely to serve as an officer or on the committee of a local organization, or to attend a club meeting or any public meeting.
Only 26 percent are involved in a social welfare organization here, compared with 32 percent in comparable communities.

We are remarkably diverse in the religious communities with which we identify, but overall our involvement in faith communities is much weaker here than it is elsewhere.

Seventy three percent of the national sample was Protestant or Catholic; here it was only 55 percent.
Nationally, 84 percent of respondents say religion is important in their lives, only 69 percent say this here.
Only 27 percent attend weekly religious services here compared with 41 percent of those in the national sample, and 33 percent of these in comparable communities.

We give less of our time and resources to our community.

Giving as a percent of household income is 31 percent less here.
We are much less likely to volunteer our time in a place of worship, for a health or disease cause, to help the poor or elderly, or to assist in a neighborhood or civic group.

We have a higher percentage of immigrants than in the national sample (16 percent versus 5 percent), and this is reflected in different rates of participation in the political process.

Compared with White registration rates of 90 percent, Hispanic-American citizens had registration rates of 83 percent and only 69 percent of Asian-American citizens were registered. (Note: These differences reflect differences in the time of local community residency - 16.7 years for White, 12.2 years for Hispanic, and 9.3 years for Asian respondents, respectively.)
Even though Hispanic-Americans were as likely as Whites to have lived in their communities for five or more years, the former were less likely to have voted in the 1996 election (65 percent of Hispanics had voted compared with 90 percent of Whites).

While our social ties and community engagement are weak, we tend to trust each other-including people from other ethnic or life-style backgrounds.

Overall social trust and inter-racial trust are higher here than in comparable communities.
We are more likely to be friends with individuals of a different race, or to have a homosexual friend.

Economics is the great divider in our community.

Our friendships-through ethnically diverse-are less likely to cut across class lines.
Those with lower household income and less education are more likely to be cut off from networks that could lead to a better life.
With lower levels of college education and lower household incomes, many Hispanic-Americans in Silicon Valley face additional barriers to increasing informal, civic, and other community ties.

Trust, civic engagement, and other social ties are positively associated with quality of life.

Seven social capital indices were significant predictors of self-reported happiness.
Similarly, five social capital indices were significant predictors of self-reported health, and four of these were associated with intent to stay here.

Overall our region is characterized by weak ties but positive social and interracial trust, and a unique set of challenges for building community.

Work demands are a greater barrier to civic engagement here, but our workplaces are also a rich stew of diversity and innovation that might be "recycled" to the community
Civic and social connections are sorting us by economic class, and we must address the social capital equivalent of a "digital divide".
Faith communities can play a greater role as incubators for social capital, especially if they also attend to the need to foster coherence across diverse religions.
New "social architectures" will be required to build community in a place that defines itself more by the norms and networks for innovation and commercialization of technology and less by civic engagement and local ties.