Social Capital: A Manifestation of Neoclassical Prominence or a Path to a More Pluralistic Economics?

Asimina Christoforou

Journal of Economic Issues, 2011, vol. 45, issue 3, 685-702

Abstract: Social capital generally refers to norms and networks of trust, reciprocity and cooperation that facilitate collective action for a mutual benefit. Critical views of social capital purport that the neoclassical principle is dominant in economics and the social sciences, and thus offers a reductionist view of social norms and networks that is instrumentalist and individualist. Here we argue that, despite neoclassical (mis)treatments, social capital can constitute a path to a more pluralistic economics, provided we turn to alternative, non-neoclassical principles of rationality that restore the social aspects of human behavior. To this end, we relate social capital to the concept of social embeddedness, where individuals take part in multiple collective agencies, and freely engage in a reflexive process to assess different norms and networks. Hence, individuals' choices do not depend on their personal utility, but on their personal identity, that is, who they want to be when confronting these choices.

Date: 2011
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DOI: 10.2753/JEI0021-3624450309

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