Jan Flora is Professor of Sociology and an Extension to Communities specialist at Iowa State University. Their experience has been both academic and applied, including a period with the Ford Foundation. We have asked the Floras to kick off the discussion by briefly introducing the social capital-community driven development nexus and posing a few questions. By Cornelia and Jan Flora Social capital is an important community asset, as both an end in itself and as a means to other ends. Yet, too much social capital that is too narrowly controlled can limit achievement of other development goals.
Communities historically have very different levels of social capital.
Our research suggests that social capital is a long-term characteristic of a spatial community and is extremely variable from place to place. The good news is that it can be built through planned interventions and mobilized for other development ends. The bad news is that is can be destroyed through well-meaning development interventions. Social capital, which is based on trust, reciprocity, networks and collective action, takes time to develop and needs particular and concrete attention. Yet it is easy to destroy by focusing development efforts only on other aspects of capital.