Unlock Elite Access: Level Up Your Preparation with Exclusive Content

Geography Optional 300+ Score Pack · Model answer

Explain the concept of social capital in relation to India.

  • UPSC 2017
  • Population and Settlement Geography

Social capital is the stock of networks, norms of reciprocity and trust that enables collective action, letting individuals and communities achieve outcomes unattainable alone — a resource lodged in relationships, not in individuals or physical assets.

You are reading the opening of the model answer. The full answer is part of the Geography Optional 300+ Score Pack.

What the full answer covers

  • From Bourdieu to Putnam: How Social Capital Produces Outcomes
  • The Analytical Triad: Bonding, Bridging, Linking
  • India's Bonding Surplus: Where Ascriptive Trust Delivers
  • Women's Collectives and the SHG–Bank Linkage
  • Commons, Cooperatives and Village Turnarounds
  • The Dark Side: Bonding Without Bridging
  • …and 1 more sections, with a conclusion

Unlock this answer and 800+ more

  • 820 solved PYQ model answers (2013–2026), Paper I and Paper II
  • Topic-wise across all 20 syllabus units
  • 20 PYQ Pattern Analysis & Strategy reports, one per unit
  • Diagrams and maps drawn inside the answers, where you would draw them
  • 500 days of access from the day you enrol, on phone, laptop or tablet

₹1,770₹2,50029% off

Get Geography Optional 300+ Score Pack @ ₹1,770 →

One-time payment · No subscription · Instant access · UPI, cards, RuPay

See every Population and Settlement Geography question (43 solved) →Already enrolled? Log in