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Beyond the Local: Extending the Social Capital Discourse
Author(s) -
Healy Karen,
Hampshire Anne,
Ayres Liz
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
australian journal of social issues
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.417
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1839-4655
pISSN - 0157-6321
DOI - 10.1002/j.1839-4655.2004.tb01180.x
Subject(s) - social capital , local government , context (archaeology) , project commissioning , local community , sociology , government (linguistics) , publishing , public relations , capital (architecture) , political science , public administration , social science , law , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology
Social capital and community capacity have become key concepts in social policy responses to marginalised individuals and communities. Policy making has occurred in the context of heated debate about the roles government and business institutions in strengthening community capacities. In this paper, we will explore theoretical positions about the role that these institutions play in building local social capital. We argue that the dominant conceptions of social capital in Australia fail to recognise the potential for non‐local institutions to strengthening local community capacity. Drawing on a study of four geographically diverse communities we show that a substantial proportion of community members were disconnected from non‐local government and business institutions. We conclude with some initial suggestions for extending the social capital discourse to recognise and build the role of non‐local institutions in strengthening local communities.