Section 4: Chapter 20, Health and Happiness Summary and Analysis

Perhaps the most important consequence of social capital is health and happiness. Studies on this topic can be traced back as far as Emile Durkheim's work on suicide. He found that suicide can be predicted by how integrated one is into society. From his findings, suicide is rarer among married people and tight knit communities and higher when social change disrupts the social fabric. In more recent years, scholars have linked social capital to almost every aspect of health. The more socially connected people are, the better their health and the less likely they are to have heart attacks, depression, and premature death. Social capital can be as positive for health as high blood pressure, smoking, and inactivity are negatives.

Scholars aren't entirely sure why social connectedness has such a great effect on...