Hodgepodge of conflicting positions

Knowledge and Social Capital (Paperback)
Eric L. Lesser / Butterworth-Heinemann / 2000년 2월

 대학원 수업에 교재였다. 이 책은 지식경제에 관한 것이 아니라 social capital에 관한 논문모음이다. social capital에 관한 개념 소개 논문이 1부에 있고 2부는 실제 그 개념이 어떻게 적용되는지에 관한 논문들이다. 그러나 social capital이란 개념 자체가 혼란스러운 개념이기 때문에 책 전체의 입장 역시 혼란스럽다. 초보자를 위한 책은 아니다. social capital에 관한 학습을 한 사람이 보는 것이 좋다

다음은 내가 아마존에 썼던 리뷰이다. 

I read articles on this book for those are assigned in a graduate class. But far from the title implies, The class has no relationship with knowledge economy which is the buzzword in the business community. But this book was used to make us to be familiar with the concept of ¡®social capital.¡¯ Indeed this book tells less about knowledge but much more about social capital. Part I of this book contains introductory articles on the conception of the social capital and Part II lists real world application of the concept. 5 Articles of Part I voices cacophony, however. Reading through the articles only gives confusion to us. Nonetheless, it¡¯s inevitable and intentional for there is no consensus about the very basic conception. So editor deliberately put those conflicting perspectives in one volume. In turn, this way of editing reveals the fact that this book is not suitable to beginners. If you are already known to the word, social capital, reading through competing perspective doesn¡¯t baffle your nerves. But if you haven¡¯t heard the word at all, this book should not be recommended. Overall, the quality of articles is good enough. Indeed those are well-known ones. But if you want to see what the word, social capital at all, this is not your choice. If so, I recommend Nan Lin¡¯s ¡®Social Capital: A Theory of Social Structure and Action¡¯. This book does not only overview the various conflicting positions comprehensively, but also systematically define the concept from the network approach. In fact, Nan Lin is a eminent figure in the social network theory.