7 research outputs found
Social capital and rural development in Europe: a geographical perspective
By considering the use of the concept of social capital and its relation to
local development and the neo-endogenous approach of rural development,
the aim of this chapter is to place the three concepts in a spaceterritory
perspective. This approach highlights the European diversity of
regions and rural areas, which are subject to heterogeneous local and
territorial development processes. It offers a âbirdâs eye viewâ of a
European geography of rural development in relation to social capital
and local development processes, especially their âregionalâ or territorial
roots. It further provides a means of exploring the contextual historical,
cultural and political-institutional divides in Europe, which, according
to some authors, explain existing social-spatial European differences in
territory. Bearing in mind that the discipline of geography includes scholars
other than geographers (Gibson, 2009), this approach converges with
contributions from diverse fields of research. The first section combines
social theory with spatial and regional science to investigate past framing
of social change and behaviour in conjunction with the political, institutional
and economic contexts of European policies. These policies shape
both the types and capacities of organisations operating in a territory.
The second section of this chapter presents geographersâ theoretical
discussions on social capital, including territorial capital and governance,
which is more specifically analysed in Chapter 5. The third section
provides an overview of studies on social capital, mostly focused on
social and political attitudes and behaviour. These studies are compared
at the European regional level to contextualise the approach adopted in
this book. The fourth section discusses different meanings of âruralâ in
treatments of rural development and social capital in Europe. Finally,
the chapter provides critical insights derived from empirical research on
social capital and rural development in European countries and regions,
and concludes with reflections on the geography of inequality which
emerges from these empirical sources. Thus, the analysis proposed in this
chapter helps to understand and contextualise how multi-level and
regional frameworks for public policy and governance systems structure
social capital in local and rural development.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio