Status of Social Capital and Community Empowerment: A Study in the Contexts of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems in Bangladesh

摘要

There is growing interest in the "social capital" concepts and its ramifications for community well-being and public policy. The term captures the idea that social bonds and social norms are an important part of basis for livelihoods. Its value was identified by Jacobs [8] and Bourdieu [2], later given a clear theoretical framework by Coleman [3], and brought to wide attention by Putnam [15]. The most common definition of social capital regards it as "features of social organization, such as networks, norms and social trust that facilitate coordination and cooperation for mutual benefit" [15]. Although there are many different descriptions of social capital, the major three central elements are social network, norm and trust [13]. Another fundamental distinction is often made between the components of its concept, which include the "bonding", "bridging", and "linking" social capital [18]. Bonding social capital refers to those relationships and norms that strengthen ties within relatively homogenous groups, while bridging capital refers to relations between heterogeneous groups, and it strengthens ties across such groups. The third dimension, the linking social capital refers to relations between individuals and groups in different social strata in a hierarchy where power, social status and wealth are accessed by different groups [13].