Significant changes have taken place in the social studies, first of all in the sphere of economic sciences during recent decades. These alterations impact the theoretical and methodological foundations of investigation and involve reconsideration of old economic theories and advent of new ones, and they create new theoretical and practical relationships between different concepts. One such example is interconnection between cooperatives and social capital. This article defines the specifics of social capital and cooperatives and considers cooperatives as a subject of social capital. The paper develops common characteristics of social capital and cooperatives, such as a voluntary association of people, mutual interests, conjoint goals, the necessity of investment, personal participation etc. The paper develops also the common principles of operation of the social capital and cooperatives, mainly specific norms and rules of behavior, transparency of work activity and relationships.