本文用制度與制度化的觀點，來說明社會資本在教育制度的重大意義。首先，就社會制度做討論，社會制度囊括了人們的行為規則，而制度場域指「遵守一套行為規則的一組人們與組織」；制度與制度場域維持了一個社會體系的穩定與延續。為了各項制度場域的成員徵募，以及成員與組織再造，社會必須仰賴「制度化組織」，即「用來促進制度場域遵守行為規則」的組織。教育制度則是一種正式的制度化組織；制度化也能採用非正式的方式，如透過正式制度化組織裡頭或外面的社會網絡來進行。而教育制度製造與再造資源或資本，如社會資本，以維持各項制度場域。教育制度為了自己的延續、生存，為了學生的就業、進入新場域做準備，仍必須培養社會資本；如果必須改變行為規則，教育制度裡外的社會網絡亦能發揮功效，而有助於教育改革。本文在結論中指出：今後對於「透過教育制度與社會網絡來培養社會資本」，必須給予更多的關注。

In this essay, I will use the institution and institutionalizing perspectives to explicate the significance of social capital in the educational system. It begins with a discussion of social institutions – as practices and norms, and an institutional field – a set of actors and organizations conforming to a set of practices and norms. Institutions and institutional fields sustain the stability and continuity of a social system. In order to recruit or reproduce actors and organizations for the institutional field, societies rely on institutionalizing organizations – organizations that promote the practices and norms in the institutional field. The education system is one such formal institutionalizing organization. Institutionalization can also employ informal means – networks both inside and outside the formal institutionalizing organizations. The educational system produce and reproduce resources, or capital, as social capital, to sustain the institutional field. Indeed, the educational system must acquire social capital for its own continuity and survival as well as for preparing the students for their entry into the labor market or the institutional field. Likewise, educational reform can benefit from networking from within or outside if the practices or norms need to be changed. It concludes by pointing to the need of greater attention to nurture social capital in the educational system and through networking.