With contributions from around the world, this book brings together inter-related research from three fields: social capital, place management and lifelong learning regions. Providing valuable insight into the management of place and the development of learning at a regional level, the book presents international research that underpins the development and implementation of policies and practices that improve the quality of living and working circumstances at both local and regional levels. International in scope and at the cutting edge of research into this growing field that links lifelong learning to place, the book will appeal both to academics undertaking research in this burgeoning field and to those involved in lifelong learning at local, national and international level.

This book confirms the significance of social capital as an analytical tool, while challenging the basis on which current policy is being developed. It offers a wealth of evidence on a topic that has become central to contemporary government; provides a detailed empirical investigation of the relationship between social capital, knowledge creation and lifelong learning; relates the findings to wider policy debates; questions the dominant theoretical models of social capital; and confronts the assumption of many policy makers that the obvious solution to social problems is to 'invest in social capital'.The book is aimed at researchers in education, policy studies and urban studies, as well as those concerned with an understanding of contemporary policy concerns. It provides readers with a detailed analysis of relevant evidence, as well as a trenchant critique of current conceptual and policy preoccupations.

This is an indispensable introduction to the topic which explains the theoretical underpinning of the subject, the empirical work that has been done to explore its operation and the effect that it has had on policy making."--Jacket.

Leading scholars in the field of social networks from diverse disciplines present the first systematic and comprehensive collection of current theories and empirical research on the informal connections that individuals have for support, help, and information from other people. Expanding on concepts originally formulated by Pierre Bourdieu and James Coleman, this seminal work will find an essential place with educators and students in the fields of social networks, rational choice theory, institutions, and the socioeconomics of poverty, labor markets, social psychology, and race. The volume is divided into three parts. The first segment clarifies social capital as a concept and explores its theoretical and operational bases. Additional segments provide brief accounts that place the development of social capital in the context of the family of capital theorists, and identify some critical but controversial perspectives and statements regarding social capital in the literature. The editors then make the argument for the network perspective, why and how such a perspective can clarify controversies and advance our understanding of a whole range of instrumental and expressive outcomes. Social Capital further provides a forum for ongoing research programs initiated by social scientists working at the crossroads of formal theory and new methods. These scholars and programs share certain understandings and approaches in their analyses of social capital. They argue that social networks are the foundation of social capital. Social networks simultaneously capture individuals and social structure, thus serving as a vital conceptual link between actions and structural constraints, between micro- and macro-level analyses, and between relational and collective dynamic processes. They are further cognizant of the dual significance of the "structural" features of the social networks and the "resources" embedded in the networks as defining elements of social c

This work argues that there is more to explaining the differences in business success than individual characteristics alone. It examines an organization's ability to manage its knowledge resources, build coherence among its management team, and address opportunities in the outside environment.

This will be a tremendous addition to the social capital literature and especially teaching some of the concepts of social capital at the graduate level. Such a text is badly needed and quite remarkable that no one has published it before. Viva Ona Bartkus, University of Notre Dame, US Social network analysis was, until recently, a relatively unknown branch of sociology and anthropology. The development of menu-driven computer software packages has opened up access for a wide range of audiences, including business and human resource managers. Yet, the tools themselves are of little value without an understanding of the concepts that can relate the computed measures to relevant applications. Social capital provides a framework for relating the abstract world of graph theory, which underlies network analysis, to the concrete world of human behavior. This book teaches how to understand and manage social capital to facilitate individual and organizational learning and goal attainment. Coverage includes both orchestrating relationships of others and navigating one s own social interactions. Written at an introductory level and accessible to those without background in network analysis or graph theory, this text combines both comprehensive analysis and concrete concepts to emphasize how critical a role social capital s applications play on the foundations of business as we know it today. A reference book for practice and academia, this book will appeal to graduate and undergraduate students of business, business executives and all those concerned with cultivating and refining an understanding of social capital.

In her recent contribution to the British Educational Research Journal, Pauline McClenaghan identified a core area of analytical debate, the link between social capital and community development, particularly community development education, which is an important area where scholarly and policy interests overlap. She concludes that the concept of social capital is unable to grapple with the complex social divisions that characterise contemporary Europe. The authors question her account on three main grounds: the definition of social capital, which they hold is overly narrow, and does not deal with what Woolcock calls the âlinkingâ role of social networks; the presentation of the theoretical foundations of community development they believe is flawed in certain key respects; and a lack of clarity in the relationship between the research and the findings reported. The authors then present their own account of social capital as a means of understanding the role of community development, the challenges that it can face and the role of adult education for community development. [Author abstract, ed].