[CfP] Conference 2017 – Social Capital WG

8th International Conference in Political Economy
“The Political Economy of Inequalities and Instabilities in the 21st Century”
Berlin School of Economics and Law, Berlin, Germany
September 13-15, 2017

Sponsored by:

THEME: Can social capital forge bonds and bridge differences to deal with inequalities?

Asimina Christoforou, Athens University of Economics and Business
Luca Andriani, Birkbeck, University of London

We invite papers to discuss how inequalities in the distribution of resources affect people’s access to social capital and how social capital can be used to address and overcome inequalities. It is often argued that societies which combine both bonding and bridging social capital, that is, strong ties within and across diverse groups may cultivate values and institutions for generalised participation which ensure everyone’s access to various resources for self-development and social welfare. On the other hand, the prevalence of bonding social connections without bridging may foster particularised interests that forge ties with powerful economic and political elites, leading to inequalities which compromise broader participation, development and welfare. In these cases, the solution may lie in the mobilisation and cooperation of private and public actors to bridge relationships across diverse groups and networks and create participatory values and institutions in the economy and society, which will support the redistribution of resources and reduce inequalities. These are hypotheses that need to be further theorised and empirically tested in order to uncover the relationship between social capital and inequalities.

We also encourage contributions that generally address the topic of social capital. We welcome works that derive from various social science disciplines and use different units of analysis (individual, regional, country or cross-country level), methodologies and techniques (theoretical, empirical, qualitative and quantitative).

For general information about IIPPE, its Working Groups, and the Conference: http://iippe.org
For general information about CPERN: https://criticalpoliticaleconomy.net/
For general information about IPE: http://www.ipe-berlin.org/

If you have further queries, you may contact Asimina Christoforou at asimina.christoforou@gmail.com, Coordinator of the Social Capital Working Group.