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The International
JOURNAL
of
INTERDISCIPLINARYSOCIAL SCIENCES
Volume 4, Number 1
Two Decades of Social Capital: Where is thisConcept Going?
Ignacio Macedo Castillejos
THE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCEShttp://www.SocialSciences-Journal.comFirst published in 2009 in Melbourne, Australia by Common Ground Publishing Pty Ltdwww.CommonGroundPublishing.com.© 2009 (individual papers), the author(s)© 2009 (selection and editorial matter) Common GroundAuthors are responsible for the accuracy of citations, quotations, diagrams, tables andmaps.All rights reserved. Apart from fair use for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review as permitted under the Copyright Act (Australia), no part of this work may bereproduced without written permission from the publisher. For permissions and other inquiries, please contact<cg-support@commongroundpublishing.com>.ISSN: 1833-1882Publisher Site: http://www.SocialSciences-Journal.comTHE INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES ispeer-reviewed, supported by rigorous processes of criterion-referenced article rankingand qualitative commentary, ensuring that only intellectual work of the greatestsubstance and highest significance is published.Typeset in Common Ground Markup Language using CGCreator multichanneltypesetting systemhttp://www.commongroundpublishing.com/software/
Two Decades of Social Capital: Where is this ConceptGoing?
Ignacio Macedo Castillejos, University of East Anglia, Norwich, UK
Abstract:After20yearsthatsocialcapitalwasconceptualised,thecurrentdevelopmentofthisconcept seems to be ambiguous. Hence, this paper addresses the following research questions: Does social capitalhasachievedacommonunderstandingamongscholarsandpractitioners?Howisthisconcept being used among scholars to address development issues? Is it possible to assert that the concept of socialcapitalisconsolidatedasanalyticalframework?Thus,theaimofthisworkistoknowthecurrent statesocialcapitalasanalyticalframeworktoaddressdevelopmentissues.Specically,itisattempted to know the way that social scientists understand and apply the concept of social capital. The author nds out how scholars and policy analysts identify social capital, measure social capital, promote thecreation of social capital, and link the concept to different theoretical frameworks. In order to do this,it was carefully examined the most referenced research articles on social capital. The main conclusionis that effective interdisciplinary research based on social capital concept requires a well dened theoretical framework. Therefore, it is necessary to differentiate explicitly Bourdieu, Coleman and Putnam’s perspectives. It is not desirable to continue in the anarchical way that has followed the de-velopment of this concept over the last 20 years. Just as physical capital is clearly associated to spe-cic characteristics of tools and machines; or human capital is associated to academic credentialsandabilities;socialcapitalmustbespeciedinasimilarway.Itiscrucialtocreatebasic“standards”or “codes” of understanding between scholars of different areas or with different backgrounds. Thus,it is necessary to stop using social capital in the multiples ways it has being used.
Keywords: Social Capital, Coleman, Bourdieu, Putnam, Social Research, Institutional Economics,Social Networks, Development Studies
Introduction
I
NTHELATE
1980’s arose the concept of
social capital
on account of theoretical de-velopments of Pierre Bourdieu (1986) and James Coleman (1988). At the beginning of 1990’s this concept became popular due to the work of Robert Putnam (1993). Today
social capital
concept has many followers around the world –including internationalorganizations such as United Nations and The World Bank. However, at the same time ithasmanydetractorswhohavestronglyarguedabouttheweaknessesandboundariesof
social capital
to address development issues. Over twenty years, social scientist have adapted theconcept of
social capital
–according to their views and necessities—to several theoreticalframeworks in anthropology, sociology, political science and economics. This has causedthe existence of several denitions of
social capital
as well as several interpretations.After 20 years that
social capital
was conceptualised, the current development of thisconceptseemstobeambiguous.Hence,thispaperaddressesthefollowingresearchquestions:Doessocialcapitalhasachievedacommonunderstandingamongscholarsandpractitioners?Howisthisconceptbeingusedamongscholarstoaddressdevelopmentissues?Isitpossible
The International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social SciencesVolume 4, Number 1, 2009, http://www.SocialSciences-Journal.com, ISSN 1833-1882
© Common Ground, Ignacio Macedo Castillejos, All Rights Reserved, Permissions:cg-support@commongroundpublishing.com
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