The Rise and Fall of Social Capital: Requiem for a Theory?
Résumé
We distinguish between social capital theory and social capital political discourse in order to
reflect upon their relation with one another and neoliberalism. We claim this analytical distinction
is useful to understand the existence of a feedback effect between theory and political discourse.
During the 1990s, the connection between social capital theory and neoliberalism has been
transposed from academia to political discourse, thus contributing to popularise social capital
within the public sphere. Over time, however, rising economic inequalities (exacerbated by the
recent economic crises) have demonstrated that the neoliberal political agenda is incompatible
with the aim to generate social capital. Focusing on the critical case of Britain, we argue that the
rapid demise of the Big Society idea might signal a corresponding decline of social capital theory
within academia.