Bourdieu and Putnam had differing conceptions of social capital. Putnam viewed social capital as consisting of trust, social values, and social networks that facilitate cooperation. He believed strong social capital leads to well-functioning economies and political systems. In contrast, Bourdieu saw social capital as a means for individuals and groups to gain power and advance their own interests through social networks and symbolic capital. The document also discusses how globalization and modernization in Pakistan destroyed local social structures like corporations, salons, and justice systems, replacing them with new institutions and disrupting social cohesion as predicted by Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction.
Bourdieu and Putnam had differing conceptions of social capital. Putnam viewed social capital as consisting of trust, social values, and social networks that facilitate cooperation. He believed strong social capital leads to well-functioning economies and political systems. In contrast, Bourdieu saw social capital as a means for individuals and groups to gain power and advance their own interests through social networks and symbolic capital. The document also discusses how globalization and modernization in Pakistan destroyed local social structures like corporations, salons, and justice systems, replacing them with new institutions and disrupting social cohesion as predicted by Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction.
Bourdieu and Putnam had differing conceptions of social capital. Putnam viewed social capital as consisting of trust, social values, and social networks that facilitate cooperation. He believed strong social capital leads to well-functioning economies and political systems. In contrast, Bourdieu saw social capital as a means for individuals and groups to gain power and advance their own interests through social networks and symbolic capital. The document also discusses how globalization and modernization in Pakistan destroyed local social structures like corporations, salons, and justice systems, replacing them with new institutions and disrupting social cohesion as predicted by Schumpeter's theory of creative destruction.
Bourdieu and Putnam conception of social capital and its evaluation in Pakistani setup
under prisms of creative destruction theory:
Social capital is about the value of social networks, bonding similar people and bridging between diverse people, with norms of reciprocity. It is an individual’s personal network and elite institutional affiliations. It is the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by possessing a durable network of institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition. In Putman’s work “making democracy work” regarding reforms in Italian government the main question he puts is “what are the preconditions for the development of strong, responsive representative institutions and a prosperous economy?”. He views growth of social capital as key solution to it. Putnam's concept of social capital revolves around trust theory and principle of interdependence. It has three components: moral obligations and norms, social values (especially trust) and social networks (especially voluntary associations). Putnam's central thesis is that if a region has a well-functioning economic system and a high level of political integration, these are the result of the region’s successful accumulation of social capital. Bourdieu’s concept of social capital puts the emphasis on conflicts and the power function (social relations that increase the ability of an actor to advance her/his interests). He explains symbolic capital briefly. Social positions and the division of economic, cultural and social resources in general are legitimized with the help of symbolic capital. From the Bordieuan perspective, social capital becomes a resource in the social struggles that are carried out in different social arenas or fields. For example, the problem of trust (which Bourdieu does not discuss much explicitly) can now be dealt with as a part of the symbolic struggle (or the absence of the practice of symbolic power and symbolic exchange. All such conception suggests that social capital is social support provided for few for the welfare of all and open for all to participate. Critical cross section of our history clearly shows the devastation of local corporation and industries due to the excessive operationalization of multinational and transnational corporations. On other hand, we also examine the destruction of local saloons that were functional in history to settle local issues and even decide state future. The importance of these saloons can be seen in history where the movement of East Pakistan succession started from a small-town salon in Agartala. Local justice system like jirga and panchayat also lost its significance to birth of new institution as substitute. Modernization of structures created relief on one hand but created chaos on another. Thus Schumpeter argument that new created structure engulf the older one may seem to be applicable here.