ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the development of equivalence towards a political sociological understanding by bringing into play the theory of social capital. The significance of this approach to the field is based on the emphasis social capital gives to how social networks are produced and produce value for those within the networks. In contemporary social science and particularly in neo-classical economics, capital has come to represent one of the four components of production that also include land, labour and enterprise. Social capital itself is not the social network, but rather, is constituted from the embedded and mobilisable resources that have value for those who have access to the networks and hence the resources. Most importantly, social capital expresses a value that may be linked to the consequence of antagonism or the movement towards equivalence. Either way, social capital shows the connections between the social and the political, as well as the mode of cooperation and hegemony.
