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In defence of social capital: Eva Cox offers a different understanding of the potential value of social capital.

Article Excerpt
The following article is in the tradition of offering points of view that attempt to explore new ideas and create discussion ... It continues the concept of 'it's the society, stupid', headlined in Arena Magazine no. 69, and suggests the socio-cultural is still grossly under-represented in most left and right political economy debates. Therefore, as some of the right have co-opted social capital as a counter to neo-liberalism and distorted it to their purposes, I want to reclaim the potential of the concept to enhance the analytical possibilities for devising viable alternative futures and options for change. My proposition is that using social capital within a contestable ethical framework offers useful viewing points that add to political analysis, questions of connectedness and sociability.

Among the problems of Christopher Scanlon's Blue Book (Arena Magazine No. 69) are his polemical and flawed framing of the term and issues. By starting his essay by quoting Peter Costello, Mark Latham and an admittedly silly Coalition back bencher, he sets up the arguments against social capital in a politicised framework that fails to distinguish between the admitted problematic popular and onesided political use of social capital and its varied and more interesting conceptual possibilities. His lack of engagement either with my critiques of the concept or the many other critical...