International Social Capital Association (ISCA)

Chilean Social Capital Circle presents: Carlos Vignolo (PISCT)
2026-06-10 12:00 - 14:00 (America/Santiago) | Online Event
Join Professor Carlos Vignolo to explore the profound foundations of human interaction and community development.

Join Professor Carlos Vignolo to explore the profound foundations of human interaction and community development. Discover how the biology of knowing, conversation, and love constitute the fundamental path to co-constructing the social capital our society needs!
NOTE: This event is in SPANISH. For participants on Zoom who do not speak Spanish, Zoom’s live caption translation feature will be enabled, allowing automatic captioning into English and other languages supported by Zoom’s translation system.

Webinar Outline
Invited Speaker: Carlos Vignolo Friz | Department of Industrial Engineering, University of Chile
The 6th Chilean Social Capital Circle Encounter features academic and researcher Carlos Vignolo Frizin a session titled «Biology of Knowing, Conversing, and Loving: An Option for Building Social Capital». This session will focus on the convergence of a radical constructivist philosophical platform with advances in neuroscience, systems engineering, and socio-emotional approaches applied to innovation and public management.
Participants will explore the theoretical and practical foundations of Sociotechnology, a discipline oriented toward strengthening social capital through the expansion of self-awareness. Through this lens, the presentation will demonstrate how conversational processes and the recognition of love within organizational and community settings can deconstruct cultural pathologies, transform distrust, and drive processes of integral human development and rehumanization.
About the Presenter
Carlos Vignolo Friz is an Industrial Civil Engineer and holds a Master of Science in Engineering, specializing in Economic Engineering, from the University of Chile, as well as postgraduate free studies in Political Economy and Economic Development from the University of Sussex, UK. He has a distinguished career spanning over 50 years as a Full Professor and Researcher in the Department of Industrial Engineering (DII) at the University of Chile, where he has been honored with the Undergraduate Teaching Award and the DII Teaching Trajectory Award. He currently serves as the Director of the Innovation and Sociotechnology Program (PIST) and Director of the Program for Strengthening Social Capital and Generating a Culture of Innovation in the Aysén Region (KAYSEN).
Throughout his career, he has been a global pioneer in integrating socio-emotional skills into engineering education , notably creating the “Leadership and Social Innovation” course and the elective “Design and Management of Self,”the latter historically co-taught with Professor Humberto Maturana. In the field of applied public policy and corporate governance, he served on the Board of Directors of the Chilean Government Innovation Lab , the Higher Executive Council of Fundación Chile , and has been a visiting professor and researcher at international institutions such as ESADE in Barcelona and the School of Education at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is the author of numerous publications and international conference papers focusing on paradigmatic revolution, post-rationalist management, and technologies applied to social capital construction.

Resonant Systems: Rethinking Social Capital and Cohesion
2026-05-13 17:00 - 18:30 (Africa/Abidjan)
Resonant Systems: Rethinking Social Capital and Cohesion from a Luhmannian Perspective

By José María Rodríguez and Segundo Vásquez3P Consulting Engineers, Inc.
Our work seeks to explain how social cohesion is maintained in a modern, complex society that is assumed to be functionally differentiated into autonomous subsystems (economy, law, politics, science, etc.). To do so, we draw on advanced concepts such as resonance (Hartmut Rosa) and social capital (Simmel, Coleman, Putnam, Lin), focusing on the sociology of Niklas Luhmann: complexity, radical constructivism, functional di􀆯erentiation, autopoiesis (systems operate according to their own logic and are operationally closed but cognitively open), and self-referentiality.
Although from a strictly Luhmannian perspective (Social Systems Theory) society is composed of communication rather than persons, we introduce the concept of resonant social capital, reformulating the traditional notion of social capital (networks, trust) through the lens of Luhmannian Resonanzfähigkeit (capacity for resonance). In Luhmann’s framework, resonance refers to how autopoietic communication systems react to irritations (i.e., perturbations from the environment) without losing their operational closure. Referring to resonant systems—where a system’s internal communication can amplify or attenuate external influences—rather than simply social systems suggests a dynamic and contemporary approach to analyzing complex changes such as ecological crises or social transformations.
Our contribution is to articulate a systemic concept of social cohesion grounded in resonance rather than consensus. Against the traditional view based on moral agreement, our proposal argues that social cohesion emerges from the interdependence and structural coupling among autonomous subsystems. Systemic social cohesion is therefore understood as the capacity to maintain systemic identity and produce meaningful communication within a chaotic and polarized environment.
When applied to governance, to the mathematical topology underlying our theoretical framework, and to Popper’s model of gradual social change, the Adaptive and Intelligent Social Technology (AIS) offers a coherent analytical foundation for Salazar’s concept of the Citizen State. This foundation is rooted in Luhmann’s theory of functional differentiation.
José María Rodríguez is a professional engineer with over 45 years of engineering experience. He holds a Doctorate, a Master’s and a Bachelor’s degrees in Engineering from the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, NB, Canada. He has been certified as a Project Management Professional (PMP) by the Project Management Institute (PMI) and is a member of the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of New Brunswick (APEGNB).
Over the last 25 years, Mr. Rodríguez has acted as a senior manager / planner on projects across Canada and in Venezuela. His experience includes nuclear facilities, waste management, industrial, infrastructure and high-technology applications.
Mr. Rodríguez is currently the Project Director of AIS Technology at 3P Consulting Engineers, Inc.

Introduction to Social Capital Research
2026-04-29 21:00 - 22:30 (Africa/Abidjan)
Do you want to gain a better understanding of social capital?

Are you doing or planning to do research on social capital?
Want help navigating the complicated theory and literature?
Do you want to gain a better understanding of social capital?

This session provides a foundation for understanding what social capital is, where it comes from, and what it does as well as some of the challenges of reading the literature and conducting researching on social capital. The session is designed to kick-start your social capital research or to help you with your existing research. The session will give you a blueprint for understanding the different meanings of social capital and how to navigate the literature on social capital. It is designed to give you a rapid introduction to the concept of social capital and its use in research, helping you avoid weeks or even months of reading.
Who is this for?
This session is designed for people who are new to social capital research or for anyone who would like to understand the concept better. It would suit PhD and Masters students and other people who are conducting research on social capital.
How the session will run:
The session will include an informative 20-minute presentation by Tristan Claridge followed by questions and discussion. You will have an opportunity to discuss your research and receive some feedback, ideas, and direction for your research.
Who will run the workshop?
Tristan Claridge, President of ISCA, will facilitate this session. Tristan has been researching social capital for over 20 years. He has explored the theoretical foundations of the concept and much of his work aims to bring conceptual and theoretical clarification. These introductory sessions will be run twice each year.
Access requirements
We seek to make our events accessible, and this is no exception. If there is something that will help you to engage more effectively in this session, please email us on: events@intsocialcapital.org. We recognise that not all participants are able to attend all sessions for the full duration. You are free to join us and leave at any time during the networking event. We request that you have your name on Zoom (this can be just a first name) to make it easier for us to facilitate the session and address participants correctly.
