Social Capital: A Multifaceted Perspective

Social capital has quickly entered the common vernacular of our discussions about the "connectedness" of citizens to their community. It remains, however, a concept that is not easily defined. This is the impetus for this book, which presents theoretical and empirical studies of social capital by a roster of leading sociologists, economists, and political scientists. It is an outgrowth of a workshop held at the World Bank in April, 1997, which was devoted to exploring the concept of social capital through a multi-disciplinary forum. Twenty-one authors contributed to this collection, described by the editors as "a reasoned account of our current understanding of the concept." While the book is divided into sections of theoretical and empirical articles, some essays combine the two approaches. Some authors identify social capital with features of social organizations such as trust. Others think of it as an aggregate of behavioral norms. Some view it as social networks, and yet others think of it as a combination of them all. This multi-faceted treatment helps to explain why the literature on social capital has been so rich and fast-moving.