Social capital
Nov. 29th, 2003 04:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jawnbcis “what ordinary language calls ‘connections.’ By constructing this concept, one acquires the means of analyzing the logic whereby this particular kind of capital is accumulated, transmitted and reproduced, the means of understanding how it turns into economic capital and, conversely, what work is required to convert economic capital into social capital, the means of grasping the functions of institutions such as clubs, or, quite simply, the family, the main site of the accumulation and transmission of that kind of capital…”
- Pierre Bourdieu, The Forms of Capital
Social capital is made up of all the knowledge one accumulates throughout life, based on social interactions. Including, but not limited to customs or cultural practices, social capital also includes how one interacts with institutions, authorities, and peers. According to Bourdieu, people who are marginalized economically are usually socially marginalized. Western democracy (in its various forms) claims to level the playing field; Bourdieu says social capital is not redistributed enough to truly supercede capitalism’s exclusionary nature.
As the saying goes, “it’s not what you know, but who you know…”
- Pierre Bourdieu, The Forms of Capital
Social capital is made up of all the knowledge one accumulates throughout life, based on social interactions. Including, but not limited to customs or cultural practices, social capital also includes how one interacts with institutions, authorities, and peers. According to Bourdieu, people who are marginalized economically are usually socially marginalized. Western democracy (in its various forms) claims to level the playing field; Bourdieu says social capital is not redistributed enough to truly supercede capitalism’s exclusionary nature.
As the saying goes, “it’s not what you know, but who you know…”
no subject
Date: 2003-11-30 04:58 pm (UTC)