This paper launches a class-based critique of social capital, and goes on to develop an alternative approach to it. In particular, it unpacks the nature of ‘working-class social capital’. There cannot be a social-capital theory of society. Within a class theory of society, social capital can play some role—perhaps a minor role, given the enormously constraining effects of class on its production. How minor that role will be depends on the issue at hand, and is geographically contingent. A class critique of social capital is necessary in order to counter its growing popularity and its potential to serve neoliberal ends.
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