Social capital, disorganized communities, and the third way: Understandingthe retreat from structural inequalities in epidemiology and public health

The construct of social capital has recently captured the interest of resea rchers in social epidemiology and public health. The authors review current hypotheses on the social capital and health link, and examine the empirica l evidence and its implications for health policy. The construct of social capital employed in the public health literature lacks depth compared with its uses in social science. It presents itself as an alternative to materia list structural inequalities (class, gender, and race) and invokes a romant icized view of communities without social conflict that favors an idealist psychology over a psychology connected to material resources and social str ucture. The evidence on social capital as a determinant of better health is scant or ambiguous. Even if confirmed, such hypotheses call for attention to social determinants beyond the proximal realm of individualized sociopsy chological infrastructure. Social capital is used in public health as an al ternative to both state-centered economic redistribution and party politics , and represents a potential privatization of both economics and politics. Such uses of social capital mirror recent "third way" policies in Germany, the United Kingdom, and United States. If third way policies lose support i n Europe, the prominence of social capital there might be short lived. In t he United States, where the working class is less likely to influence socia l policy, interest in social capital could be longer lived or could drift i nto academic limbo like other psychosocial constructs once heralded as the next big idea.