A Meta-Analysis of Social Capital Research in the Obama Era vs. the Trump Era

• In Event: Political Networks and Methodology

Abstract

Social capital reflects the social and political context of the very time and has different meanings in different contexts and times. This study examines the varying scholarly work of social capital related to the two most contradicting presidential leaderships of the Obama and Trump administrations to understand how scholarly research absorbs the spectrum of social capital under the two different presidencies.

The current study collected all social capital related academic journal articles in all registered academic journals in the U.S. from the early phase of Obama politics to the lagged phase of Trump politics (2005-2023). Utilizing the layers of advanced search via a higher education library database system, social capital studies were searched out as three different categories: social capital linked with Obama politics, social capital related to Trump politics, and general social capital in American politics.

This study observed that scholarly approaches to social capital varied by the social and political atmosphere of the different political leaderships. Compared to academic studies about social capital in general over the two different presidents’ eras that had discussed solely inclusive social capital and inter-group social bridging unless they were co-elaborated with exclusive in-group bonding, studies conducted during/about the Obama administration and politics investigated both inclusive and exclusive in- and out-group social capital equally, discussing both social bonding and bridging networks. The research examined under/about the Trump administration and politics focused and emphasized more on inclusive inter-group bridging rather than exclusive in-group social capital networks.

Moreover, this study found that the most common theme of general social capital research done from zooming into the Obama era to zooming out of the Trump era was the meaning and implication of social capital in academia. However, social capital research in the Obama era was more likely to speculate social capital surrounding race and ethnicity among other factors, while the social capital research parameter in/about the Trump era was most likely to target leadership and immigrants. These findings imply that scholarly approaches follow the social and political trends of the time and reinterpret the meaning and value of important sociopolitical assets, like social capital.

Authors

• Hyun Jung Yunie Yun, Texas State University, San Marcos

• Alexis Jones, University of Oklahoma