“Capitalizing” on Catholic Social Teaching: Seeking Normative Principles for Constructive Social Capital in the Catholic Tradition

For decades, the social sciences have been the predominant locus for research on social capital, but there is an overlooked opportunity for constructive engagement with the Catholic Church’s long social tradition. As a self-identified “expert in humanity” (John Paul II 1987, n41), the Catholic Church has much that commends its philosophers and theologians as interdisciplinary partners reflecting on what constitutes true social capital. Such a normative exercise seeks to distinguish authentic and productive social capital instantiated in trust, norms, and networks among persons for the achievement of common goods, rather than perverse and destructive counterfeits that breed mistrust, corruption, and alienation. This paper argues that the four permanent principles of Catholic social doctrine—the common good, solidarity, subsidiarity, and the dignity of the human person—can establish clear, normative principles that social scientists can use as they investigate the social realities that we as human beings in community constitute and actualize. Each permanent principle provides particular value for grappling with enduring critiques and questions in social capital research. Responding to criticisms of the rent-seeking nature of associations, the Catholic notion of the common good can be used as a heuristic for evaluating whether or not social organizations contribute to or detract from the achievement of comprehensive outcomes for all members within a group without injury to those outside. The concept of solidarity can further enlighten how to interpret and evaluate agency within associations. Furthermore, notions of tradition and subsidiarity respond to critiques that social capital is neither persistent through time nor alienable. Lastly, the principle of the dignity of the human person, in light of the common good, helps to explain why true social capital will not be destructive to the public good, but always constructive and constitutive of communities and their governing bodies.