Social Capital, Inequality and Health: the Durkheimian Revival

Abstract

‘Social capital’ has become a fashionable paradigm for the explanation of differences in health and illness between social groups in the last decade, particularly in the public health arena. The theory provides a particularly potent criticism of the social consequences of neo-liberalism, and hence the foundation for a sociological critique of the negative effects of modern individualism. In this discussion of social capital, I want to show that its roots are to be found in classical sociological theory, particularly in Emile Durkheim's sociology. In fact, the modern debate reproduces Durkheim's attack on utilitarian individualism as an explanation of social happiness, but this dependence on Durkheim's analysis is rarely acknowledged. The notion that the quantity and quality of a person's social relationships and social networks play an important part in the maintenance of their health, and at the same time provide resources for their recovery from illness, has been a basic component of much public health research, but mainstream sociology has neglected this important vindication of the sociological tradition. In fact, social capital theory is the most promising sociological, as opposed to social psychological, anthropological or cultural, account of health and illness that we have. Although the social capital perspective is attractive as sociology, a number of theoretical and methodological issues need to be confronted. In particular, the problem with these sociological theories of social connectedness has been twofold. They have to describe more precisely the linkages between health, social membership and psychological well-being, and secondly they need to give a more coherent account of these social relationships. If these theoretical problems can be addressed, then social capital theory can make an important contribution to the sociological understanding of health and illness. In this article, my intention is to outline the development and claims of social capital theory, and to show the dependence of recent work on the legacy of Durkheim's sociology.