ABSTRACT
Issues pertaining to networks, trust and social capital have, in one way or another, always been part of sociology’s concerns and baggage, although trust and especially social capital were not necessarily clearly identified and used as such from the outset. Still, the notions, their specific if variable conceptualisations, their usage and interconnectedness, are singularly pertinent to contemporary sociology. Indeed, during the last fifteen or so years there has been a proliferation of interest in sociology in the social-capital cum trust cum networks nexus. Moreover, there has been a trickle-down effect, so that other social science, such as political science, economics, development studies, geography, and in particular social policy, also research and debate these themes.
