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

[Ron Day]

No, you're not the only one annoyed by this, Lew.  The inscription of the
social by the notion of "social capital" is a common trope these days,
though.  That it doesn't seem to draw much ire in the general consciousness,
however, is somewhat stunning.

Not surprising that the World Bank--famous advocates of "Knowledge
Management," too--employ the term.  This is the World Bank, though, yes?
----- Original Message -----
From: "Lew Hassell" <Lew.Hassell at cis.drexel.edu>
To: <sigcrit-l at asis.org>
Sent: Monday, July 07, 2003 3:07 PM
Subject: [Sigcrit-l] I know it's Summer, but ... social capital


>
>
>
>
> 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
> ==================================================
> "where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge, where is the knowledge we
> have lost in information?"
> T.S. Eliot, The RockJ(
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