ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the issue of social capital in the context of the spread of gentrification across inner London in recent decades drawing on recent empirical research. It also shows how space is actively used by middle class people who are only relatively and not absolutely advantaged to make new communities in the city. The chapter describes both Bourdieu and Putnam-type approaches to social capital, despite their different conceptual provenances, in recognition of the different components of this restructuring process. The Putnam perspective enables us to investigate the ways the bonding social capital of the disadvantaged communities or individuals has been replaced fully or partly by the bridging social capital of the incoming middle classes. It is here that Bourdieu's treatment of social capital can be useful in understanding the ways in which the relatively advantaged are able to maintain their power and privilege.
