Johathon Porritt”, pages 112 & 113 from the book “Capitalism as if the World Matters."

“Capital is a stock of anything that has the capacity to generate a flow of benefits which are valued by humans. Social Capital takes the form of structures, institutions, networks and relationships which enable individuals to maintain and develop their human capital in partnership with others, and to be more productive when working together than in isolation. It includes families, communities, businesses, trade unions, voluntary organizations, legal/political systems and educational and health bodies.”

So, social capital is the assets embodied in a network and in its constituent members, altogether capable of producing value or goods. The value or goods of the whole, however, are greater than the simple sum of the parts. Further, members contribute to the whole, not contractually, but voluntaristically, as part of a gift relationship.  Consistent with the idea of a gift relationship and its reciprocity, there is a sense that the network can "pay back" or "pay forward" the gift to its members in some mutually negotiated, accomplished, and satisfactory way.

A foundational good of the network is the adaptive and sustainable strength of the network because without that no further value or goods can be produced. Beyond that many other goods are possible and they will be manifested to the greatest degree by the network but also, to some lesser degree, within the contributing members.