Handbook of Social Capital: The Troika of Sociology, Political Science and Economics

Abstract

The Russian word troika (‘threesome’) denotes a sleigh or wagon pulled by three horses abreast. A simultaneous, harmonious and steady pull by all three horses sends the sleigh flying without exhausting the horses. In contrast, if one horse pulls too hard, or if one pulls less than the others, the sleigh will lose momentum and, at worst, overturn. The difficult act of driving a troika implies exact co-ordination, discipline and understanding to ensure smooth and skillful handling. We find that ‘troika’ is an appropriate metaphor for the three disciplines that have mostly ‘pulled’ social capital research, namely sociology, political science and economics. The main idea in this book is that the most important synergy effect of a balanced team of horses hitched in troika is to account for tangible as well as intangible assets or ‘forms of capital’ at the same level of analysis (cf. Bourdieu, 1986), thus overcoming the artificial demarcation between economic and non-economic areas of research. This means that intangible forms of capital, e.g., cultural and social capital, should be accounted for alongside the more traditional, visible capitals such as physical and economic capital. In such an approach, culture is seen as not less ’economic’ than economics and vice versa, and various forms of intangible, normative resources such as trust, cooperative skills, tolerance, optimism and happiness are included in the equation so to avoid what economist John F. Tomer (2002: 421) has termed “mainstream theory’s most notable failure”. The notion of social capital implies that all three disciplines recognize the power inherent in network co-operation – invisible, but arguably with highly visible effects. However, not all disciplines are comfortable with numerous network types. A main theme in this book is therefore to further develop what we see as a useful distinction between bridging and bonding types of social capital – something, which poses serious questions for a well-balanced troika.

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