Okay okay, I know. Hold on just a second, please. What I intend to do is precisely not to open another chapter to the revisionist literature of Marxism (despite the fact that as a political scientist by root I am entitled at least humbly to utter some crowd pleasing nonsense in the name of emotion stirring for ideological rating.) Since “Honesty is the best policy” as Benjamin Franklin quite wisely stated, let me confess: I just want to catch your precious attention with a semi-smart title so as to make you read my blog. If your eyes are still dwelling on these lines I have succeeded and you are all more than welcome to my personal assessment of social capital.

Capital as a “cash on the counter” physical reality such as golden bouillon and currency we can literally touch or anything of value that can be evaluated for an enduring period such as land or art works has evolved to another realm with the advancement of technology. Nowadays, it is getting harder and harder to find a person who has seen a whole bunch of billions and billions (respects to much beloved and terribly missed Carl Sagan, by the way) with her own eyes.

We live in the era of virtual currency. Fortunes are transferred among continents by push of a computer button. Paying the bills no longer necessitates cuing for minutes; it is on the tips of our fingers. We keep our savings neither in stockings stashed in a cabinet (I do not want to name the Scottish actor who did this during the swinging sixties… Oops, you get it, too late!) nor in safe deposit boxes encountered in mediocre Western movies. However, a development as important as this has also taken place: The virtualization of capital has brought about with all its complexity another kind of capital to the block; social capital.

This is not a place for citing academic definitions of this concept thus let me speak street-wisely: “It is not what you know, it is who you know.” Namely; the ultra-layered, multi-faceted, colossally hay wire modern society demands equally well-defined relationship patterns in between people and institutions so that effective and efficient use of the fiscal capital may be possible. Your social capital is your friend’s friend who can give you a lead concerning real estate occasions you may exploit (“Glengarry Glen Ross” will always remain the source of dark movie quotes concerning capitalism without boundaries). Certain universities around the world endow their alumni with class mates and memberships that may be much more beneficial than the degree they provide. The most popular type of nationalism still remains as the hometown organizations and native country gatherings; as a result of internal and external migration, respectively. Any piece of evidence? Look at diasporic “towns” of major cities around the globe as social capital hubs preparing new joiners to citizenship.

The lack of adequate social capital is presumably engendering more or less the same danger with the deservedly disliked outcomes of technology addiction: Too many things to do, too little focus for each one. Just like a teenager obsessed with a play station game and nothing else, we may end up with a lot of capital yet too little dissemination channels sufficient to carry them to profitable projects or (more importantly) to those who need.

Hence, it may be the right time to assess multi – national/organizational/cultural events more like a convenient platform of seeding new relations guaranteed to increase social capital levels for both parties in a mutual way and less like another occasion to wear our speedos and spend a few evenings at the spa of a five star convention hotel. What we will end up with is very likely to burgeon different type of opportunities leading to the same pay off; a means of spreading fiscal capital more evenly through social capital networks.

PS: Since I have finished my blog, now I can really get serious and recommend a short study on social capital for anyone who is interested about the subject. Here I comes:

Social Capital: “Implications for Development Theory, Research, and Policy” by Michael Woolcock and Deepa Narayan

The World Bank Research Observer, Vol. 15(2), 2000, December