Social capital and community development: Practitioner emptor

Social capital has become the latest 'flavour of the month'. There is consi derable disagreement over what the term means, and calls for theorising and measurement of the construct. Health promoters, among others, are being ch allenged to re-construct their efforts around this still contested idea. So cial capital doesn't exist, but is being created by those aspects of social relations particular theorists or researchers choose to study in its name. The choice of these relations is directed by ideology To those aligned mor e with neoliberal, market-driven ideology, social capital is a means to the end of economic growth, something that can pick up the slack of privatised or reduced public services. To those aligned more with social justice and communitarian ideology, social capital is an end in itself, requiring the d efence of strong, egalitarian state intervention into market practices that create inequalities. Community development is one of many state interventi ons used to buffer market-generated inequalities. Social capital may be a useful concept for practitioners, researchers and p olicy makers in bring the missing 'social' into economic and fiscal policy debates. But its use should be approached cautiously as a construct of pote ntial strategic value. It should not confuse all of the previous 'good' wor k undertaken in the name of empowerment and community capacity.