Social Capital, Distance, Borders and Levels of Space: Conclusions and Further Issues

摘要

In this special issue, we attempted to combine two multifaceted concepts, social capital and space, a difficult and complex task. The various papers in this special issue have all demonstrated that social capital has a spatial dimension but they have also demonstrated that a straightforward connection between the two concepts does not emerge. In our view, the next step on the road to explaining the relation between social capital and space is to better conceptualize the latter. In the introductory paper, we focused on social capital, arguing that this concept can be approached from a structuralist or an interactionist perspective (with focus on the networks and the norms/values, respectively) and that it can bring positive as well as negative effects. Social capital is carried by individuals and different types of organizations, but, as the contributions in this special issue demonstrate, it also has a spatial factor. This necessitates conceptualizing space more clearly in order to better understand how social capital and space are related. In this final paper, we make an effort in this direction. Space may be theorized as a concept with three complex approaches.