[Sigcrit-l] I know it's Summer, but ... social capital

[Lew Hassell]

Am I the only one who is bothered by the concept of "social capital"?  As
the World Bank sees it:
                                                                            
 Social capital refers to the norms and networks that enable collective     
 action. Increasing evidence shows that social cohesion — social capital —  
 is critical for poverty alleviation and sustainable human and economic     
 development.                                                               
                                                                            
 Now while I applaud attempts to alleviate poverty in the Third World, was  
 it not capital that was used as a tool to alienate the worker from the     
 means of production (been a long time since I last read Marx, so bear with 
 me)?  Isn't the above definition what we used to call "community"?  And by 
 refering to it as "capital", is this not just some sleazy (sp?) attempt to 
 commodify fellow feeling, and perhaps quantify it (to make the accountants 
 happy)?                                                                    
                                                                            
 If there are any academics out there who are reading their email in        
 between working on their tans, please, enlighten me.  Really.              
                                                                            


Lost in academia

Lew
==================================================
Lewis Hassell, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Drexel University
College of Information Science and Technology
3141 Chestnut St.
Philadelphia, PA 19104, USA
Phone: 215-895-2492
Fax: 215-895-2494
Email: Lew.Hassell at cis.drexel.edu
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"where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge, where is the knowledge we
have lost in information?"
T.S. Eliot, The Rock