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What is social capital: basic concepts

Essential readings of this section include the studies that have introduced the multidimensional concept of social capital in the social sciences debate, influencing great part of the following literature on this topic. Further readings include some alternative views and few useful surveys of the literature

• Essential readings

• Furhter readings and useful surveys of the literature

• Back to reading list

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Essential Readings

• Becker, G. (1974), A Theory of Social Interactions, Journal of Political Economy, 82, n. 6, pp. 1063-1093.

• Bourdieu, P. (1986), The Forms of Capital, in John G. Richardson (edt), Handbook of Theory and Research in the Sociology of Education, New York, Greenwald Press.

• Coleman, J. (1988), Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital, American Journal of Sociology 94, pp. 95-120.

• Coleman, J. (1990), Foundations of Social Theory, Cambridge, Harvard University Press.

• Field, J. (2004), Social Capital, London and New York, Routledge.

• Fine, B. (2001), Social Capital versus Social Theory. Political Economy and Social Science at the Turn of the Millenium, London and New York, Routledge.

• Granovetter, M. (1973), The Strength Of Weak Ties, in American Journal of Sociology, 78, pp. 1360-80.

• Granovetter, M. (1985), Economic Action And Social Structure: The Problem Of Embeddedness, in American Journal of Sociology, n. 91, pp. 481-510.

• Hooghe, M., Stolle, D. (eds) (2003), Generating Social Capital: Civil Society and Institutions in Comparative Perspective, New York, Palgrave.

• North, D. (1990), Institutions, Institutional Change And Economic Performance, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

• Putnam, R.D., Leonardi, R., Nannetti, R.Y. (1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, trad. it. La tradizione civica nelle regioni italiane, Mondadori, Milano.

• Putnam, R. (2000), Bowling Alone. The Collapse and Revival of American Community, New York, Simon & Schuster.

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Further Readings

• Adam, F., Roncevic, B. (2005), Social Capital: Recent Debates and Research Trends, Social Science Information, 42(2), 155-183.

• Ahn, T.K, Ostrom, E. (2002), Social Capital and the Second-Generation Theories of Collective Action: An Analytical Approach to the Forms of Social Capital, Paper presented at the 2002 Annual Meeting of the American Political Science Association, Boston, Ma, August 29-September 1, 2002.

• Ahn, T.K., Ostrom, E. (eds) (2003), Foundations of Social Capital, Cheltenham, U.K., Edward Elgar Publishing Ltd.

• Bagnasco, A., Piselli, F., Pizzorno, A., Trigilia, C (2002), Capitale sociale: istruzioni per l’uso, Bologna, Il Mulino.

• Banfield, E.G. (1958), The Moral Basis of a Backward Society, New York, Free Press.

• Becker, G. (1996), Accounting for Tastes, Cambridge, Ma, Harvard University Press.

• Bourdieu, P. (1980), Le capital social. Notes provisoires, Actes, n. 31, 2-3.

• Burt, R.S. (2000), Structural Holes versus Network Closure as Social Capital, in Lin, N., Cook, C.S., Burt, R.S. (eds), Social capital: Theory and Research, New York, Aldine de Gruyter.

• Bruni, L., Sugden, R. (2000), Moral Canals: Trust and Social Capital in the Work of Smith, Hume and Genovesi, Economics and Philosophy, 16, 21-45.

• Burt, R.S. (1992), Structural Holes: The Social Structure of Competition. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.

• Burt, R.S. (2000), The Network Structure of Social Capital, in R.I. Sutton, B.M. Staw (edt), Research in Organizational Behavior, Greenwich, Jai Press.

• Durlauf, S.N., Fafchamps, M. (2004), Social Capital, The Centre for The Study of African Economies Working Paper Series, No. 214, The Berkeley Economic Press.

• Evans, P. (1996), Government Action, Social Capital and Development: Reviewing the Evidence on Synergy, World Development, 24(6), 1119-1132.

• Farr, J. (2003), Social Capital. A Conceptual History, Political Theory, Vol. 31 No. X, Month 2003 1-28.

• Fukuyama, F. (1999), Social Capital and Civil Society, Paper prepared for delivery at the IMF Conference on Second Generation Reforms, November 8-9, 1999, IMF Institute and the Fiscal Affairs Department, Washington, D.C.

• Fukuyama, F. (2003), Still Disenchanted? The Modernity of Postindustrial Capitalism, CSES Working Paper Series, No. 3, Center for the Study of Economy and Society, Cornell University.

• Gabbay, S.M., Leenders, R.A.J. (eds) (2001), Social Capital of Organizations, Amsterdam, JAI Press, vol. 18: 2001.

• Glaeser, E.L., Laibson, D. e Sacerdote, B. (2000), The Economic Approach To Social Capital, NBER Working Paper Series, n. 7728, National Bureau of Economic Research, Cambridge, Ma.

• Guiso, L. (2007), Social Capital as Culture, slides of the Marshall Lecture held at the joint European meeting of the European Economic Association and the Econometric Society (EEA/ESEM) in Budapest, Hungary, August 27 – 31, 2007.

• Jackson, M.O. (2005), The economics of social networks, Social Science Working Paper 1237, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California.

• Jacobs, J. (1961), The Death and Life of Great American Cities, New York, Random House.

• Johnston G., Percy-Smith J. (2003), In search of social capital, Policy & Politics, 1 July 2003, vol. 31, no. 3, 321-334(14).

• Hanifan, L.J. (1916), The Rural School Community Centre, Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Sciences, 67, 130-38.

• Homans, G. (1961), Social Behavior: Its Elementary Forms, New York, Harcourt, Brace and World.

• Harrison, L.E., Huntington, S.P. (2001), Culture Matters: How Values Shape Human Progress, New York, Basic Books.

• Lin, N. (2001), Social capital. A theory of social structure and action, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

• Paldam, M. (2000), Social Capital: One Or Many? Definition And Measurement, in Journal of Economic Surveys, 14, 5, pp. 629-653.

• Portes, A. (1998), Social capital: its origins and applications in modern sociology, Annual Review of Sociology 24: 1-24.

• Putnam, R.D., Feldstein, L. (2003), Better Together: Restoring the American Community, New York, Simon & Schuster.

• Sabatini, F. (2004), "Il concetto di capitale sociale nelle scienze sociali. Una rassegna della letteratura economica, sociologica e politologica, Studi e Note di Economia, No. 2/2004, 73-105.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2006), The Empirics of Social Capital and Economic Development: A Critical Perspective, FEEM Working Paper 15.06, January 2006, Eni Enrico Mattei Foundation, Milan.

• Sandefur, R.L., Laumann, E.O. (1998), A Paradigm for Social Capital, Rationality and Society 10(4), 481-501.

• Seeley, J.R., Sim, A.R., Loosley, E.W. (1956), Crestwood Heights: A Study of The Culture of Suburban Life, New York, Basic Books.

• Siisiäinen, M. (2000), Two Concepts of Social Capital: Bourdieu vs. Putnam, Paper presented at ISTR Fourth International Conference The Third Sector: For What and for Whom? Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, July 5-8, 2000.

• Uslaner, E. (2000), The Moral Foundations of Trust, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

• Van Staveren, I. (2002), Social Capital: What Is In It for Feminist Economics?, Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Working Paper No. 368.

• Wallis, J., Killerby, P., Dollery, B. (2003), Social Economics and Social Capital, University of New England, School of Economics, Working Papers Series in Economics, No. 2003-04.

• Woolcock, M. (1998), Social capital and economic development: toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework, Theory and Society 27,2 (1998), 151-208.

• Woolcock, M., Narayan, D. (2000), Social Capital: Implications for Development Theory, The World Bank Research Observer, 15, pp. 225-251.

• World Bank (1998), The Initiative on Defining, Monitoring and Measuring Social Capital. Overview and Program Description, Washington, World Bank, Social Development Department.

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