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Title: Social Capital Versus Social Theory: Political Economy and Social Science at the Turn of the Millenium (Contemporary Political Economy) by Ben Fine ISBN: 0-415-24180-4 Publisher: Routledge Pub. Date: 30 November, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $33.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (1 review)
Rating: 3
Summary: Ben Fine skins the social capital cat!
Comment: Midway through this difficult but entertaining book, Fine notes that he once wrote a paper on "social capital" for the World Bank in which he used the metaphor of "skinning a cat." He was referring to the many different ways in which people have used the term and the resulting theoretical and practical confusion. Fine offers his own alternative in Part IV, a 10-page chapter that concludes the book. In Part III, he also offers 55 pages on how "social capital" has figured in the policies and plans of the World Bank.
For me, the book's value inheres in the first 2 parts of the book, in which Fine gives a social history of the term's use (and abuse) since Pierre Bourdieu's pioneering contribution. As an economist, Fine is particularly critical of how the concept has been used in economics. Gary Becker, in his imperialstic push to encompass all of social life within a methodological individualist economic framework, is roundly criticized. James Coleman, a sociologist who ran a social capital seminar at the University of Chicago with Becker, is also singled out for his uncritical acceptance of economic assumptions in building a concept of "social capital" on social exchange theory.
Fine covers a vast amount of literature in economics, political science, sociology, and other disciplines. He is a harsh critic, but he is explicit about the criteria used for his evaluations and gives credit to many others as sources of his criticisms.
Fine's prose is a bit thick at times, and a diligent copy editor could probably have shortened the book by a third. However, Fine's obvious passion for his subject and the thoroughly annotated review of the literature make this a book that scholars in the social capital field will have to read. But of course, Fine would say, "the way things are going in this ever-expanding field, that may well include just about everyone!"
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Title: Social Capital: Critical Perspectives by Stephen Baron, John Field, Tom Schuller ISBN: 0199243670 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: February, 2001 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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Title: Bowling Alone : The Collapse and Revival of American Community by Robert D. Putnam ISBN: 0743203046 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 07 August, 2001 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Social Capital: Theory and Research (Sociology and Economics (Paper)) by Nan Lin, Karen S. Cook, Ronald S. Burt ISBN: 0202306445 Publisher: Aldine de Gruyter Pub. Date: 01 June, 2001 List Price(USD): $28.95 |
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Title: Democracies in Flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society by Robert D. Putnam ISBN: 0195150899 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: July, 2002 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Kicking Away the Ladder: Development Strategy in Historical Perspective (Anthem World Economics Series) by Ha-Joon Chang ISBN: 1843310279 Publisher: Anthem Press Pub. Date: 01 September, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.50 |
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