Late-life creativity: methods for understanding arts-generated social capital in the lives of older people

Abstract

The concept of social capital relates, in essence, to people’s relationships in families, communities and other social networks. It is often described as the ‘social glue’ that holds people together through bonds of trust, mutual support, sense of belonging and shared identities. The links between social connectedness and health and well-being are well recognised, and in the context of an increasing focus on addressing the damaging impacts of loneliness in later life, it is valuable to understand how social capital may be developed and experienced. Much research on social capital has focused on theoretical understandings and on how it may be measured. There is a lack of qualitative understandings of how people actually experience social capital. In literature addressing ageing, issues of social capital are more commonly implicit than explicit. Much, for instance, has been written about social relationships in later life and about the need for support.

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