Shades of Social Capital: Elite Persistence and the Everyday Politics of Community Forestry in Southeastern Mexico

Peter R Wilshusen
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Peter R Wilshusen: Environmental Studies Program, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA 17837, USA

Environment and Planning A, 2009, vol. 41, issue 2, 389-406

Abstract: Social capital has been discussed widely as networks based in trust and reciprocity that can facilitate economic development, democratic governance, and sustainable natural-resource management. The concept has not been examined thoroughly as an analytical lens for understanding power relations. Drawing on Bourdieu's theory of practice I develop a relational and contextual view of social capital in order to explore the everyday political exchanges tied to a long-standing community forestry association in Quintana Roo, Mexico. I present a case study that recounts the emergence and decline of a timber-marketing fund to illustrate how elite actors from member communities ( ejidos ) maintain relative dominance within social networks over time. This Bourdieusian perspective on elite persistence exemplifies the downside of social capital but also reveals a cultural view of everyday politics that highlights tensions among long-standing practices (habitus) and formal and informal spheres of social interaction (fields).

Date: 2009
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:envira:v:41:y:2009:i:2:p:389-406

DOI: 10.1068/a40132

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