Social capital: Intuition, precept, concept and theory

Abstract

The concept of social capital was taken up by researchers and policy-makers to stress the importance of social relations in local development. There is much debate on how social capital should be defined and measured. Typically, empirical analyses and policy evaluation reports have assessed social capital in relation to individuals’ membership in social organisations and civic engagement. Thus they often overlook factors of inequality and power, which require an analysis of individuals’ network relations and their broader social and political environment. In this chapter we discuss the different conceptions and applications of social capital in relation to local development. Our aim is to complement an approach based on civic participation with a network-based approach by bringing together two traditions, that of Robert Putnam and Pierre Bourdieu.