Depoliticizing development: the World Bank and social capital

Table of contents:

1. Introduction: the "missing link" and the "anti-politics machine"
2. Where the "missing link" came from (or, How a Harvard professor became a celebrity)
3. The fragility of the foundations (or, Why the Harvard professor's idea is so misleading)
4. "Anti-politics" in America: the debate about social capital and civil society in the United States (or, Another Harvard professor enters the fray)
5. Social capital and "synergy across the public-private divide" (or, a California professor comes to the rescue?)
6. The Trojan Horse? : social capital in the World Bank
7. Putting social capital to work: what happened to the Trojan Horse
8. Conclusion: the case for political action.

In 'Depoliticizing Development', John Harriss explores the origins of the idea of social capital and its diverse meanings in the work of James Coleman, Pierre Bourdieu and, more specifically, Robert Putnam, who is most responsible for the extraordinary rise of the idea of social capital through his work on Italy and the United States. Harriss asks why this notion should have taken off in the dramatic way that it has done and finds in its uses by the World Bank the attempt, systematically, to obscure class relations and power. Social capital has thus come to play a significant part in the discourses of international development, which go toward comprising 'the anti-politics machine'. This powerful and lucid critique will be of immense value to all those interested in development studies, including sociologists, economists, planners, NGOs and other activists.


http://www.anthempress.com/depoliticizing-development-pb