Conference papers will in turn be grouped to develop themes relating to health issues, settings, population groups and health promotion strategies. Abstracts for this conference are due 31 January 1999. The first is a whinge. I wish people writing about social capital would take care with their language and avoid constructions which imply that there is a clear unproblematic phenomenon out there which is unproblematically known as 'social capital'. Social capital is a metaphor.
Some people find the metaphor useful.
Clearly the metaphor has rhetorical value and this seems to be the main reason for its recent ascendancy. However, even here the question of usefulness needs to be asked. However, we are now seeing a range of social scientists engage seriously with the task of measuring this thing called 'social capital'. There is a discussion to be had here about the politics of the emergence, migration and use of this term. To conclude my whinge.