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Social Capital Put to the Test
Author(s) -
Adkins Lisa
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
sociology compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 31
ISSN - 1751-9020
DOI - 10.1111/j.1751-9020.2008.00123.x
Subject(s) - social capital , sociology , field (mathematics) , positive economics , social reproduction , social science , capital (architecture) , empirical research , individual capital , social mobility , epistemology , neoclassical economics , economic capital , economics , history , profit (economics) , philosophy , mathematics , archaeology , pure mathematics
This article offers a critical review and mapping of theoretical elaborations of the social capital concept and of some of the key empirical projects which in their various ways have attempted to capture and measure social capital. In so doing, it maps the rise and rise of social capital within the social sciences and beyond. It then considers a range of hypotheses which have attempted to explain the ever increasing prominence and reach of the concept. To understand this reach, the article suggests that we must look beyond the theoretical, methodological and empirical technicalities of the social capital debates and cast our eyes to a fundamental rewriting and reworking of the social field.