Building the Sustainable Community

Is Social Capital the Answer

Bibliographic Data

ID2274669
AuthorsJeffrey C Bridger (Rural Resources), A E Luloff (Rural Resources)
Year2001
Volume71
Issue4
Pages458-472
Publication date2001-10-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueSociological Inquiry (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0038-0245 • E-ISSN: 1475-682X
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1475-682x.2001.tb01127.x
OpenAlexW2100159021
LanguageEN
Citations received40
References cited25

Over the past decade, environmental sustainability has emerged as a prominent theme in the community development literature. In fact, the concept has become a standard feature of most economic and social development plans. Most models of sustainable community development stress the importance of widespread participation in the decision-making process. Unfortunately, community studies document numerous barriers to broad involvement and the high level of activeness envisioned by proponents of sustainable community development. In searching for ways to overcome these barriers, scholars and policymakers have embraced the idea that we can enhance efforts to create more sustainable communities by increasing the local stock of social capital. We examine this line of reasoning in light of what we view as the most important conceptual issues surrounding the relationship between social capital and sustainable community development. We conclude that before social capital is endorsed as a central component of public policy, much work remains to be done in terms of developing a more precise definition of the concept, situating it within extant theories of community, constructing better measures of social capital, documenting the activities and networks most important in building social capital, and gaining a better understanding of the forms of social capital that are most important in developing sustainable communities

Community building · Community development · Economic capital · Economic growth · Economics · Human capital · Individual capital · Political science · Public relations · Social capital · Social science · Social sustainability · Sociology · Sustainability · Sustainable community · Sustainable development · Community Development and Social Impact · Law · Social Capital and Networks · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies