The relations that exist between individuals within both families and communities, together with the educational, cultural, and social resources and expertise of a society (J. Coleman and F. Thomas 1987). ‘At the macro level, formal institutions, such as state constitutions and legal norms, make up the social capital of a society…at the micro level, social capital can be conceptualized as personal trust which exists in a particular community or social network’ (Batheld and Glückner (2005) Env. & Plan. A 37). However, Clarke (2008) Pol. Geog. 27, 1 claims that ‘many scholars would agree that an emphasis on community as the site for generating social capital and citizenship may be misleading’, and Antoci et al. (2007) J. Socio-Econ. 38, 1 emphasize the negative welfare consequences of social capital. For an overview of geographical accounts of social capital see Holt (2008) PHG 32, 2.