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Essay on The Significance of Social Capital
Social capital in its various forms and contexts has emerged as one of the most salient forms of capital. While much excitement has been generated, divergent views, perspectives, and expectations have also raised a serious question: is this a fad, or does it have enduring qualities that will herald a new intellectual enterprise?
A theory of social capital eliciting the central theme that capital is captured in social relations and that its capture evokes structural constraints and opportunities as well as actions and choices on the part of the actors. Firmly anchored in the general theory of capital, this theory will, it is hoped, contribute to an understanding of capitalization processes explicitly engaging hierarchical structures, social networks, and actors. This theory, and its research enterprise, argues that social capital is best understood by examining the mechanisms and processes by which embedded resources in social networks are captured as investment. It is these mechanisms and processes that help bridge the conceptual gap in the understanding of the macro–micro linkage between structure and individuals.
Structural or class positions define the types of capital having differential values in the market place, but, more important, they dictate what actions the underprivileged must take to acquire such valued skills and knowledge.
In short, neo-capital theories stress the interplay of individual actions and structural positions in the capitalization process. While each particular theory places emphasis either on the former or the latter element, it is recognized that it is this interplay, or choice actions within structural constraints, that accounts for the capitalization process.
However, this interplay remains largely in the background of both human capital and cultural capital theories. Human capital theory clearly chooses to focus on choice behavior in capitalization. Cultural capital theory strongly argues for the dominant class's vested interest in the types of capital and the imposition of their acquisitions in an indoctrination process...........
