ABSTRACT
Social capital has received layers of criticism. Fine's analysis also argues that social capital is based upon an assumption of the validity of neo-liberal economics. The three modern social capital originals of Putnam, Coleman, and Bourdieu, speak to social cohesion, but do so in different ways. While Bourdieu argues that social capital is a value to be extracted by people within certain groups, Coleman brings in trust, arguing that what is important and valuable is the connection between people and the structure of their connections which creates trust. Although Putnam popularized the concept of social capital, the concept is not his own and neither is the distinction between bonding and bridging social capital. There is a conceptual tension between bonding and bridging social capital. Some kinds of bonding social capital writes Putnam, may discourage the formation of bridging social capital and vice versa.
