Social Capital and its Uses

Abstract

The article attempts to assess the use and usefulness of the concept of ‘social capital’. First, it assesses its differing conceptual uses in the works of four key writers, Pierre Bourdieu, Gary S. Becker, James S. Coleman and Robert D. Putnam, identifying broadly a problematic ‘social capital as social fact’ perspective associated with Putnam, and a more promising ‘contacts with influential people’ approach that can be derived from Bourdieu. It then considers the practical uses already made of the former approach in the development studies literature, before addressing some of the analytical problems associated with applying the latter in a policy environment. Finally, it takes three short examples from research in rural Central and Eastern Europe to illustrate how the concept can be used to both analyse social relations and suggest policy priorities. The article's conclusion is that ‘social capital’ of any variety is by no means the ‘missing link’ in development economics, yet ‘social capital’ of the Bourdieu-derived kind can be a useful, work-a-day concept in social analysis.

Why Social Capital Subverts Institution Building in Risky Settings

“…These differences in trusting behavior suggest that trust may best be understood not as a property of individuals but as a property of relations between specific roles under certain conditions. This observation follows other calls to see the trust needed to produce certain forms of social capital as inherently context-specific (Burt, 1996(Burt, , 1997a(Burt, , 1997bColeman, 1988;Hardin, 1991;Lewis and Weigert, 1985;Poldony and Baron, 1997;Swain, 2003). I go one step further to recognize that different contexts may positively or negatively affect the same individuals' ability to take advantage of trusting relations.…”

“…Such critiques have focused on the "dark side" of social capital in generating clientalistic relations and furthering pre-existing inequalities (Coleman, 1988;Levi, 1996Levi, , 1998Portes, 1987;Portes & Landolt, 2002;Swain, 2003). This article goes one step further by observing that within the same group of actors, any one actor may be either an insider or an outsider, depending on the social context in which action takes place.…”

Lending Groups and Different Social Capitals in Developed and Developing Countries

“…In spite of the fact that there are many definitions for social capital (Adler & Kwon, 2002;Portes, 1998;Swain, 2003), its positive effects converge towards three main influences exerted over the institutional environment, as presented in the framework outlined in Figure 1: increase in information symmetry, creation of formal and informal systems of reward and punishment, and fostering of trust and solidarity (Adler & Kwon, 2002). Adler and Kwon (2002, p. 29) posit that "the first of social capital's direct benefits is information: for the focal actor, social capital facilitates access to broader sources of information and improves information's quality".…”

Κοινωνικό Κεφάλαιο Και Τοπική Ανάπτυξη: Ο Ρόλος Της Οικογενειακής Εγγείας Ιδιοκτησίας

“…Στο έργο του Foundations of Social Theory (1990), ο Coleman πραγματεύεται την έννοια του ΚΚ εισάγοντας νεοκλασικές θεωρήσεις και αναπτύσσει μια θεωρία της κοινωνίας και της κοινωνικής δράσης με βάση τον ορθολογισμό και την ωφελιμότητα (Swain, 2003). Θεωρεί ότι η κοινωνική ζωή αποτελεί ένα χώρο όπου τα άτομα είναι αυτόνομα, ενεργούν ορθολογικά με στόχο τη μεγιστοποίηση της προσωπικής τους ωφέλειας, και καθορίζει την έννοια του ΚΚ ως ένα σύνολο οντοτήτων όπου όλες αντιπροσωπεύουν κάποια όψη των κοινω νικών δομών, και διευκολύνουν ορισμένες ενέργειες των δρώντων εντός των δομών (είτε αυτοί είναι ανεξάρτητα άτομα είτε συνασπισμένα άτομα) (Coleman, 1990, σ.…”