Increasingly in Australia, the answers to these questions are framed around the idea of social capital. Social Capital and Public Policy in Australia offers a number of different routes into discussions about these core questions by drawing together contributions from authors who write from a diversity of professional experiences, academic disciplines and political positions. The authors include Eva Cox, Mark Latham and Fran Baum.
Contributors explain what social capital means, where the idea comes from, and why it is important.
They also outline some of the things that are being tried to strengthen the fabric of community life in Australia in different arenas of public policy, including health, education and social welfare. The implication from this work for social institutions is that they need to change the ways in which they act, be they businesses, families, non-profit organisations or governments. This book emanates from the Family and Society research program of the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The Institute's research aims to identify the ways in which government, community and business can assist in the process of strengthening families and communities and of building social capital. Contents Chapter 1 Social capital and public policy in Australia.