This study proposes an instrument to evaluate territorial social capital as a collective resource, found in the cooperation, trust and reciprocity relations. The evaluation of the territorial social capital was done in three neighboring areas in southern Brazil. These territories have common cultural aspects, although they have experienced different patterns of development. The results show that the territorial social capital can be analyzed according to four factors in this order: proximity, territorial anchorage, reciprocity and collective memory. The proximity and the territorial anchorage are the most powerful factors to explain social capital in these territories.