IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/taf/deveza/v26y2009i3p399-412.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Reassessing the concept of 'social capital': considering resources for satisfying the needs of rural communities

Author

Listed:
  • Jaco Vermaak

Abstract

This article reassesses the concept of 'social capital'. Against the background of existing theoretical views, as well as several points of critique, it reconceptualises the concept in terms of its ability to satisfy needs at various levels of society. It puts forward two arguments: first, that looking at a community's resources from the theoretical perspective of social capital gives a better understanding of existing socio-economic processes; and, second, that such a perspective can help the researcher identify a number of further resources available to communities. The article develops a critique of existing social capital theory. It looks at how appropriate the concept is to the situation of rural communities in the developing world, and suggests that a resource-oriented social capital is a promising and appropriate concept for inclusion in development efforts.

Suggested Citation

  • Jaco Vermaak, 2009. "Reassessing the concept of 'social capital': considering resources for satisfying the needs of rural communities," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 26(3), pages 399-412.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:deveza:v:26:y:2009:i:3:p:399-412
    DOI: 10.1080/03768350903086770
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/03768350903086770
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1080/03768350903086770?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pretty, Jules & Ward, Hugh, 2001. "Social Capital and the Environment," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 209-227, February.
    2. Fox, Jonathan, 1996. "How does civil society thicken? the political construction of social capital in rural Mexico," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1089-1103, June.
    3. Rudd, Murray A., 2000. "Live long and prosper: collective action, social capital and social vision," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 34(1), pages 131-144, July.
    4. Brown, L. David & Ashman, Darcy, 1996. "Participation, social capital, and intersectoral problem solving: African and Asian cases," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(9), pages 1467-1479, September.
    5. James Putzel, 1997. "POLICY ARENA: Accounting for the 'dark side' of social capital: reading Robert Putnam on democracy," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 9(7), pages 939-949.
    6. Lowndes, Vivien, 2000. "Women and Social Capital: A Comment on Hall's ‘Social Capital in Britain’," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(3), pages 533-537, July.
    7. Mark Pelling, 1998. "Participation, social capital and vulnerability to urban flooding in Guyana," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(4), pages 469-486.
    8. Cathy McIlwaine & Caroline O. N. Moser, 2001. "Violence and social capital in urban poor communities: perspectives from Colombia and Guatemala," Journal of International Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(7), pages 965-984.
    9. Ben Fine, 1999. "The Developmental State Is Dead—Long Live Social Capital?," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 30(1), pages 1-19, January.
    10. Barr, Abigail, 2000. "Social Capital and Technical Information Flows in the Ghanaian Manufacturing Sector," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 52(3), pages 539-559, July.
    11. Krishna, Anirudh, 2001. "Moving from the Stock of Social Capital to the Flow of Benefits: The Role of Agency," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(6), pages 925-943, June.
    12. Tony Emmett, 2000. "Beyond community participation? Alternative routes to civil engagement and development in South Africa," Development Southern Africa, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 501-518.
    13. Linda Mayoux, 2001. "Tackling the Down Side: Social Capital, Women’s Empowerment and Micro‐Finance in Cameroon," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 32(3), pages 435-464, June.
    14. John Maluccio & Lawrence Haddad & Julian May, 2000. "Social capital and household welfare in South Africa, 1993-98," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(6), pages 54-81.
    15. Evans, Peter, 1996. "Government action, social capital and development: Reviewing the evidence on synergy," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 1119-1132, June.
    16. Maxine Molyneux, 2002. "Gender and the Silences of Social Capital: Lessons from Latin America," Development and Change, International Institute of Social Studies, vol. 33(2), pages 167-188, April.
    17. Abu, N. M. Wahid, 1994. "The Grameen Bank and Poverty alleviation in Bangladesh," American Journal of Economics and Sociology, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(1), pages 1-15, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. van Staveren, I.P., 2002. "Social capital :What is in it for feminist economics?," ISS Working Papers - General Series 19126, International Institute of Social Studies of Erasmus University Rotterdam (ISS), The Hague.
    2. Serra, Teresa & Poli, Elena, 2015. "Shadow prices of social capital in rural India, a nonparametric approach," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 240(3), pages 892-903.
    3. Das, Nimai, 2009. "Understanding of Social Capital in Gender-based Participatory JFM Programme: An Evidence from West Bengal," MPRA Paper 15304, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. Mladovsky, Philipa & Mossialos, Elias, 2008. "A Conceptual Framework for Community-Based Health Insurance in Low-Income Countries: Social Capital and Economic Development," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 590-607, April.
    5. Shahrukh Rafi Khan, 2006. "Learning from South Asian ‘Successes’," South Asia Economic Journal, Institute of Policy Studies of Sri Lanka, vol. 7(2), pages 157-178, September.
    6. Tamilina, Larysa, 2012. "Characteristics of social policies and social trust," MPRA Paper 96517, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Brinkerhoff, Derick W., 2000. "Democratic Governance and Sectoral Policy Reform: Tracing Linkages and Exploring Synergies," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 28(4), pages 601-615, April.
    8. Abdulwahid, Saratu, 2006. "Gender differences in mobilization for collective action: case studies of villages in Northern Nigeria," CAPRi working papers 58, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    9. Durston, John, 2001. "Social capital: part of the problem, part of the solution; its role in the persistence and overcoming of poverty in Latin America and the Caribbean," Sede de la CEPAL en Santiago (Estudios e Investigaciones) 33038, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    10. Classen, Lauren & Humphries, Sally & FitzSimons, John & Kaaria, Susan & Jiménez, José & Sierra, Fredy & Gallardo, Omar, 2008. "Opening Participatory Spaces for the Most Marginal: Learning from Collective Action in the Honduran Hillsides," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 36(11), pages 2402-2420, November.
    11. Tamilina, Larysa, 2012. "Group specific effects of social policies on social trust," MPRA Paper 96518, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    12. Sundar, Nandini, 2001. "Is Devolution Democratization?," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 29(12), pages 2007-2023, December.
    13. Tamilina, Larysa, 2011. "Decommodification and stratification effects on social trust," MPRA Paper 96516, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    14. Tamilina, Larysa, 2011. "Policy specific effects of welfare states’ impact on social trust," MPRA Paper 96515, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    15. Tamilina, Larysa, 2011. "The Impact of Welfare States on Social Trust Formation: A Multidimensional Approach," MPRA Paper 96489, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    16. Tamilina, Larysa, 2018. "The impact of welfare states on social trust: theoretical and empirical foundations," MPRA Paper 96512, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Mihaela Bronic, 2005. "The role of non-governmental non-profit organisations in the provision of social services and the palliation of poverty," Financial Theory and Practice, Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(1), pages 99-114.
    18. Tamilina, Larysa, 2018. "Theories of social trust formation: a brief literature overview," MPRA Paper 96511, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    19. Tamilina, Larysa, 2018. "A brief overview of approaches to defining social trust," MPRA Paper 96510, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    20. Tamilina, Larysa, 2011. "The welfare state and social trust: a three-dimensional approach of analysis," MPRA Paper 96513, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:taf:deveza:v:26:y:2009:i:3:p:399-412. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Chris Longhurst (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.tandfonline.com/CDSA20 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.