Social capital as a public good: the problem of conceptualization

Abstract

The article is devoted to the conceptualization of social capital as a public good. It is shown that main attempts in this area are based on some methodological premises such as “economization” of social and political motives. Capitalist subject defined by some authors as someone who included to active investments in different forms of community (for example through involvement in politics) while in real capitalism some declining of civic cohesion observed. It is concluded that the reason of this vulnerability is in a distortion of the original meaning of term “capital” by sociologists and political scientists. This distortion led to the inclusion in the researchers view some phenomena are actually rental benefits. The author conducted a consistent conceptualization of social capital. To the author’s point of view, social capital is a set of dues, social norms or images and ideas formed in the minds of individuals, in which self-interested rational agents invest material goods. The novelty of this definition is that social capital is presented as a result of activity of homo oeconomicus. It helps to distinguish social capital from other phenomena related to altruistic and emotional subjectivity of actors. For a description of a number of positive economic effects the author proposes the term “social rent”. The author substantiates the thesis that social rent is determined by the benefits of social environment regardless of individual’s labor and investments. Refs 24.