183works, including close kin as well as a few friends, who are often fully
integrated in the family realm. In societies such as Portugal, character-
ised by strong family obligations and weaker social development due to
their history, family ties continue to play a critical role as a major medi-
ator of social integration and social control, and the integration of
friends does not translate into bridging social capital because such
friends are fully embedded in family ties. Personal networks of the
Portuguese thus more often present a high level of bonding in their
social capital structures. Accordingly, many individuals relate their
identity to family and develop a we social identification in kinship-
based groups (Elias and Scotson 1994 ). The family and other close rela-
tionships take on a major role as providers of help and protection for
individuals in the case of poverty or disability, as well as normatively
framing their behaviours. In Switzerland, in contrast, individuals are
integrated into a wealthy society that strongly stresses market participa-
tion as a means of self-support and self-development, without the
mediation of the family or the kinship network.^4 Social constraints and
opportunities stem from the educational system and the job market
and place the individual in complex and far-reaching chains of interde-
pendencies, which shape personal networks in various ways, as in
Portugal. Rather than being mediated by the family as a group, per-
sonal relationships are more autonomously developed, thanks to the
many opportunities and alternatives provided by a comparatively
wealthy environment. Because the market and the state have more
resources in Switzerland, they increase the heterogeneity of personal
networks and thus provide alternatives to family for creating bridging
social capital. Accordingly, the family loses some of its normative influ-
ence on individuals, and self-regulation is promoted as a mean of social
control (Elias 1994 ). On the other hand, this country also stands out as
having more empty networks and thus no social capital. This is para-
doxically related to both the self-sufficiency corollary guaranteed by
wealthy conditions and the negative consequences of individualisation
trends, which translate into loneliness and social exclusion. Similar
interconnections between personal networks and social capital struc-
tures were found in Lithuania: bonding social capital predominates in
the context of rather dense and decentralised personal relationships.
Understanding Personal Networks as Social Capital