The dark side of the force: A case study of restructuring and social capital

This paper uses a case study of a Southern textile community to show how a distinct form of social capital is embedded in local networks of power and domination. Textile firms and communities in the South have undergone restr ucturing: technology and labor processes have modernized, firms have merged , consolidated, or closed, and the number of workers has declined. An analy sis of Cannon Mills and its associated mill community of Kannapolis identif ies the sources of the paternalist form of social capital that dominated wo rk and community social relations. Corporate mergers, downsizing, technolog ical change, shifts in the labor market, municipal incorporation, and labor organizing contributed to the transformation and decline of paternalistic social capital. The case study reminds social scientists that social capita l is a context dependent form of power that can be created, accumulated, or destroyed. While many current analyses treat social capital as an unquesti oned positive force, the case study reveals the dark side of social capital .