This paper reviews the origins and definitions of social capital in the writings of Bourdieu, Loury, and Coleman, among other authors. It distinguishes four sources of social capital and examines their dynamics. Applications of the concept in the sociological literature emphasize its role in social control, in family support, and in benefits mediated by extrafamilial networks. I provide examples of each of these positive functions. Negative consequences of the same processes also deserve attention for a balanced picture of the forces at play. I review four such consequences and illustrate them with relevant examples. Recent writings on social capital have extended the concept from an individual asset to a feature of communities and even nations. The final sections describe this conceptual stretch and examine its limitations. I argue that, as shorthand for the positive consequences of sociability, social capital has a definite place in sociological theory. However, excessive extensions of the concept may j...

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Social Capital: Its Origins and Applications in Modern Sociology

A growing number of sociologists, political scientists, economists, and organizational theorists have invoked the concept of social capital in the search for answers to a broadening range of questions being confronted in their own fields. Seeking to clarify the concept and help assess its utility for organizational theory, we synthesize the theoretical research undertaken in these various disciplines and develop a common conceptual framework that identifies the sources, benefits, risks, and contingencies of social capital.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4134367.pdf

Social Capital: Prospects for a New Concept

‘The Production of Space’, in: Frans Jacobi, Imagine, Space Poetry, Copenhagen, 1996, unpaginated.

The Production of Space

L'A. etudie le lien entre capital social et developpement economique. Il analyse la notion de capital social et souligne que cette notion caracterise un reseau de relations sociales jouissant d'une certaine autonomie et d'un relatif enracinement dans la vie sociale. Il examine la place du capital social dans le cadre des politiques de developpement economique et met en lumiere un certain nombre de contraintes et de possibilites inherentes aux dilemmes propres aux strategies de developpement «bas-haut» et «haut-bas». Il envisage de facon critique les theories et les politiques concues en matiere de developpement

Social capital and economic development: Toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework

In the 1990s the concept of social capital defined here as the norms and networks that enable people to act collectively enjoyed a remarkable rise to prominence across all the social science disciplines. The authors trace the evolution of social capital research as it pertains to economic development and identify four distinct approaches the research has taken : communitarian, networks, institutional, and synergy. The evidence suggests that of the four, the synergy view, with its emphasis on incorporating different levels and dimensions of social capital and its recognition of the positive and negative outcomes that social capital can generate, has the greatest empirical support and lends itself best to comprehensive and coherent policy prescriptions. The authors argue that a significant virtue of the idea of and discourse on social capital is that it helps to bridge orthodox divides among scholars, practitioners, and policymakers.

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Social capital: implications for development theory, research, and policy

This introductory article defines the concept of transnationalism, provides a typology of this heterogeneous set of activities, and reviews some of the pitfalls in establishing and validating the topic as a novel research field. A set of guidelines to orient research in this field is presented and justified. Instances of immigrant political and economic transnationalism have existed in the past. We review some of the most prominent examples, but point to the distinct features that make the contemporary emergence of these activities across multiple national borders worthy of attention. The contents of this Special Issue and their bearing on the present understanding of this phenomenon and its practical implications are summarized.

The study of transnationalism: pitfalls and promise of an emergent research field

The downside of social capital

The purpose of this commentary is threefold. First, to review the origins and definitions of the concept of social capital as it has developed in the recent literature. Second, to examine the limitations of this concept when interpreted as a causal force able to transform communities and nations. Third, to present several relevant examples from the recent empirical literature on Latin American urbanisation and migration. These examples point to the significance of social networks and community monitoring in the viability of grass-roots economic initiatives and the simultaneous difficulty of institutionalising such forces.Current interest in the concept of social capital in the field of national development stems from the limitations of an exclusively economic approach toward the achievement of the basic developmental goals: sustained growth, equity, and democracy. The record of application of neoliberal adjustment policies in less developed nations is decidedly mixed, even when evaluated by strict economic criteria. Orthodox adjustment policies have led to low inflation and sustained growth in some countries, while in others they have failed spectacularly, leading to currency crises, devaluations, and political instability. The ‘one-size-fits-
 all’ package of economic policies foisted by the International Monetary Fund and the US Treasury on countries at very different levels of development have led to a series of contradictory outcomes that orthodox economic theory itself is incapable of explaining.

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Social Capital: Promise and Pitfalls of its Role in Development

A dialectical framework is proposed for analysing the economic and political practices associated with immigrant transnationalism. The causes and consequences of the transnational relations sustained by Salvadoran migrants in Los Angeles and Washington, DC, with El Salvador is used to test this proposition. It is argued that the conditions of Salvadorans' exit from their country of origin and of their reception in the US explains their tendency to invest considerable resources in forging and maintaining transnational relations with their places of origin. In turn, the aggregate impact of household-level transnational practices elicit spontaneous and institutional responses from different sectors of Salvadoran society. Based on the case of El Salvador, typologies of transnational economic enterprises and transnational political practices are presented that confirm the high degree to which the maintenance of transnational relations are indispensable to El Salvador and its migrant-citizens.

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From hermano lejano to hermano mayor : the dialectics of Salvadoran transnationalism

This article presents a case study of the transnational economic practices linking two Salvadoran settlements in the United States and El Salvador. It considers the relationship between economic transnationalism, immigrant settlement and econ- omic development in the country of origin. Four processes are examined including: (1) the creation of border-spanning social networks by migrants and their home country counterparts; (2) the construction of transnational economic activities and institutions; (3) the broader transnational social formations in which these are embedded; and, (4) the cumulative and unintended consequences of economic trans- nationalism for migrant households, the immigrant community, and El Salvador. The article applies the concepts of social network, social capital, and embeddedness, to explain the sources and determinants of individual- and community-level variation in types of transnational economic practices. The conclusions drawn are that economic transnationalism is both part of a transnational settlement strategy and holds potential for economic development in the country of origin. First forged by refugees fleeing political violence in the late 1970s, circuits of transnational obligations and interests have proliferated and now link together a broad spectrum of Salvadoran society across the borders of multiple nation states. Over the course of close to three decades, border-spanning social networks have moved beyond the household sphere to include a variety of institutions such as enterprises, political parties, charitable organizations, and youth groups. Migrants' increasingly strategic participation in home country affairs has also prompted a policy response from the Salvadoran state and a reorientation of business plans by some sectors of private enterprise. Such contact and interaction has consolidated an elaborate series of transnational social arrangements and institutions (Landolt et al. 1999; Landolt 2000; Lungo 1997; Mahler 1995; Menjivar 2000). In this article, I draw on primary data from a multi-sited project on the causes and consequences of migrant transnationalism to explore the economic dimensions of Salvadoran transnational migration. I focus on two themes. First, I examine the relationship between economic transnationalism and immigrant settlement. Immigrant settlement involves a multiplicity of processes including labour market insertion, ethnic identity formation, and the acquisition of citizenship rights. Prevailing interpretations portray settlement as a process that involves a break with home

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Patricia Landolt

Papers

The study of transnationalism: pitfalls and promise of an emergent research field

The downside of social capital

Social Capital: Promise and Pitfalls of its Role in Development

From hermano lejano to hermano mayor : the dialectics of Salvadoran transnationalism

Salvadoran economic transnationalism: embedded strategies for household maintenance, immigrant incorporation, and entrepreneurial expansion