CHANGING PROFILE OF COMMUNITY CLUBS AND THEIR CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS BUILDING SOCIAL CAPITAL IN SINGAPORE

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to study the changing profile of CCs in Singapore and their facilitation in social capital building. Due to factors such as the shift from conventional CCs to “lifestyle” CCs and a significant research gap, the study aims to study the topic to understand contemporary CCs’ performance as structures of social capital. Through provision of facilities and activities, CCs provides avenues the opportunities for interaction and creation of relationships and social capital. The manifestation of social capital can be determined using three performance indicators, namely social network, social trust and reciprocity. By building social network diversity, it is believed that individuals can develop social trust and dependence on others. Individuals also tend to perform reciprocity acts for one another when help is needed. The study was conducted in a selected local area in Singapore, namely, the Tampines GRC. Data is drawn upon the results of 250 door-to-door surveys and is supplemented with personal interview with selected willing residents. Primarily, the level of awareness of CCs in the neighbourhood is strong. However, low visitation levels do not lead to sufficient opportunities for interaction and relationship formation, which are vital for the development of social capital. As for those who do visit the CCs, discussions revealed that meaningful interactions. In all, the detailed analysis shows that CCs have extremely strong potential to create attractive opportunities to build community bonds. Such opportunities should be better harnessed, either through quasi-government programmatic enhancement or strategic capture of visitorship through word-of-mouth and social media.