Social Capital

by David Halpern

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Product Description
The concept of 'social capital' is currently the focus of an explosion of interest in the research and policy community. It refers to the social networks, informal structures and norms that facilitate individual and collective action. This explosion of interest is driven by a growing body of evidence that social capital has enormous effects on economic growth, health, crime and even the effectiveness and functioning of governments.

David Halpern provides a guide through the many and sometimes confusing definitions of social capital. The various literatures examining the empirical consequences of social capital are brought together from across academic disciplines to demonstrate a remarkable range of effects. A model is then presented to account for the causal pathways that create social capital, and that lead from social capital to its outcomes. International evidence is used to establish whether social capital is on the decline, and the thorny question of whether social capital can harm or exclude is also examined. Finally, the policy implications are considered, including how social capital can be measured, created and utilized.

Social Capital offers an overview of one of the most important and exciting areas to emerge out of the social sciences in many years. It assumes no previous knowledge of the literature or statistics, and will be of interest to students and researchers in politics, sociology, social administration and social psychology and to the general reader interested in finding out more about how social capital affects all our lives.

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Average Customer Review: 5 out of 5 stars

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5 out of 5 stars

An extremely fine book, 2008-09-08
When I picked up this book by chance in the library, I was unprepared for the quality of its fine writing and great breadth of integration. David Halpern has written a masterpiece of social science. Both interesting and profound, the book covers an enormous range of topics, relating all of them to social capital. I felt as if a new land had opened up and welcomed me in. One of the ten best books I have read. Highly recommended. Ron Westrum

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