Social Capital
Price: $33.95
Add to Cart- ISBN: 978-0-415-43303-7
- Binding: Paperback (also available in Hardback)
- Published by: Routledge
- Publication Date: 2nd May 2008
- Pages: 208
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About the Book
The term 'social capital' is a way of conceptualizing the intangible resources of community, shared values and trust upon which we draw in daily life. It has achieved considerable currency in the social sciences through the very different work of Bourdieu in France, and James Coleman and Robert Putnam in the States, and has been taken up within politics and sociology as a means of explaining the decline of social cohesion and community values in many Western societies.
This concise introduction, the only one currently available, explains the theoretical underpinning of the subject, the empirical work that has been done to explore its operation, and the effect that it has had on policy-making particularly within such international governmental bodies as the World Bank and the European Commission. With genuine cross-disciplinary appeal, this exceptional book will be of great interest to students of sociology, politics and social policy.
Table of Contents
1. From Metaphor to Concept 2. The Power of Networks 3. A Walk on the Dark Side 4. Social Capital in a (Post) Modern World 5. Social Capital as PolicyAbout the Author(s)
John Field is a Professor in the Institute of Education, University of Stirling, where he served until recently as Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research. He has published widely on socio-economic aspects of lifelong learning, including previous specialist studies of social capital and adult learning. He is Honorary Professor of Continuing Education at Birkbeck College, University of London.