Because the social structural conditions that overcome the problems of supplying these public goods-that is, strong families and strong communities-are much less often present now than in the past, and promise to be even less present in the future, we can expect that, ceteris paribus, we confront a declining quantity of human capital embodied in each successive generation. The obvious solution appears to be to attempt to find ways of overcoming the problem of supply of these public goods, that is, social capital employed for the benefit of children and youth. This very likely means the substitution of some kind of formal organization for the voluntary and spontaneous social organization that has in the past been the major source of social capital available to the young.

XREF: Connects to Putnam's 'Bowling Alone' thesis about declining civic and community institutions. SEED: Could be an essay angle: whether formal organizations (schools, programs) can genuinely replace the social capital once supplied by strong families and communities.

Coleman, SocialCapitalCreation-1988, loc. 231