ABSTRACT
The purpose of this chapter is to consider the extent to which the notions of ‘social capital’ and ‘local development’ can be interpreted and discussed in conjunction with one another.1 In particular, I argue that these concepts share particular characteristics, such that if we consider them together, we can usefully address certain questions about social capital and local development that remain unanswered in the literature. To date, the relationship between social capital and local development has not been investigated in depth, and yet the idea that social capital plays a significant role in local development has been given a great deal of credence. The role of social capital within local development tends to be discussed mainly in terms of the social dimension of economic processes. This emphasis on the social side of such economic processes is symptomatic of the ‘cultural’ and/or ‘relational’ turn in economic geography (Barnes 2001), which is typified by research examining the relationship between culture, institutions and economic development. The purpose of this chapter is not to review this complex body of literature in detail, but rather to focus on drawing out the connections between the cultural and relational turn in economic geography and ideas concerning social capital and local development.
