Abstract

RINCON RUBIO, Luis. Personal Networks and Social Capital in a Rural Parish of the Province of Maracaibo (Venezuela) at the End of the XVIII Century: La Inmaculada Concepción de La Cañada (1784-1804). Historelo.rev.hist.reg.local [online]. 2015, vol.7, n.14, pp.15-58. ISSN 2145-132X.  https://doi.org/10.15446/historelo.v7n14.46821.

In historical research, the term "social network" has been used mainly as a metaphorical concept involving the interconnection of different individuals. While this approach permits to address some functional aspects of social networks, it does not allow systematically analyzing them from a structural point of view. Overcoming the metaphorical use of the concept of "social network", the methodology of Social Network Analysis (SNA) is used in this work to systematically study the personal social networks woven during the last two decades of the 18th century by the social agents possessing the higher levels of social capital in the parish Immaculate Conception of La Cañada, Province of Maracaibo of the ancient Captaincy General of Venezuela, by means of blood ties and ties derived from the ecclesiastical institutions of marriage and baptism. The application of SNA allowed to illustrate an approach still rarely used in historical research, and to deepen into aspects of interest concerning the creation of personal ties, the distribution of social capital and the strategies of social reproduction implemented by the inhabitants of a rural community in Colonial Latin America.

Keywords : social networks; social capital; rural parish; Immaculate Conception of La Cañada; Province of Maracaibo; Venezuela.

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