Description |
149 pages ; 24 cm |
Series |
Anthem world economics
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Contents |
1. Introduction: the "missing link" and the "anti-politics machine" -- 2. Where the "missing link" came from (or, How a Harvard professor became a celebrity) -- 3. The fragility of the foundations (or, Why the Harvard professor's idea is so misleading) -- 4. "Anti-politics" in America: the debate about social capital and civil society in the United States (or, Another Harvard professor enters the fray) -- 5. Social capital and "synergy across the public-private divide" (or, a California professor comes to the rescue?) -- 6. The Trojan Horse? : social capital in the World Bank -- 7. Putting social capital to work: what happened to the Trojan Horse -- 8. Conclusion: the case for political action |
Summary |
"The idea of social capital - meaning, most simply put, 'social connections' was unheard of outside a small circle of sociologists until very recently. Now it is proclaimed by the World Bank to be the 'missing link' in international development and it has become the subject of a flurry of books and research papers. This book explores the origins of the idea of social capital and its diverse meanings in the work of James Coleman, Pierre Bourdieu and of Robert Putnam - who is responsible for its extraordinary rise through his work on Italy and the USA. Harriss then asks why this notion should have taken off in the dramatic way that it has done and finds in its uses by the World Bank the attempt, systematically, to obscure class relations and power. Social capital has thus come to play a significant part in the discourses of international development, which go to compromise 'the anti-politics machine'." -- BOOK JACKET |
Notes |
Includes index |
Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
Subject |
World Bank.
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Social capital (Sociology)
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Infrastructure (Economics)
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Economic development -- Political aspects.
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LC no. |
2002725592 |
ISBN |
1843310481 : |
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184331049X paperback |
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