Page 184 - Panjek, Aleksander, Jesper Larsson and Luca Mocarelli, eds. 2017. Integrated Peasant Economy in a Comparative Perspective: Alps, Scandinavia and Beyond. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 184
integr ated peasant economy in a compar ative perspective
nature makes it possible to also highlight the role of social capital as an ad-
ditional perspective for a reading of the integrated peasant economy.
Social capital of course concerns the characteristics, properties, and
quality of the social networks through which social actors pursue their
activities. Essentially, it consists of the ‘institutions, relationships, and
norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society’s social interactions’
(Bourdieu 1980; Coleman 1988; World Bank 1998). Analysis in this sense fo-
cuses on the processes that connect people and social groups to each oth-
er and how they generate net benefits and the possibility of achieving oth-
erwise unachievable goals, or those achievable only at higher cost. There is
broad agreement that the presence of social capital facilitates beneficial col-
lective action, which is a prerequisite for adaptation to change, especially
where the formal institutions are still poorly developed.
Applying the category of social capital to southern Italy is no easy task.
The south of Italy has in fact been taken as a key scenario showing how its
backwardness depends precisely on the lack of social capital and an inabil-
ity to act for the common good. Bansfield’s notorious category of “amor-
al familism” that he produced in the 1950s highlights the crucial role of
the family and its pervasive presence in hindering the development of civil
society, intermediate institutions and forms of collective identities, allow-
ing the proliferation of economic and political deviance (clientelism, lack
of political participation, forms of organised crime) (Banfield 1960; Put-
nam 1993). Forty years later, Putnam’s research on civic spirit in the Ital-
ian regions strengthened the thesis of the absence of social capital through
comparison between southern and central/northern Italy. The medieval
tradition of the city-states as they developed in central and north Italy –
tightly-knit urban communities facilitating the transmission of informa-
tion, law enforcement, a sense of belonging and collective action – made the
author’s perception of the moral, civil and economic failure of the South
even more evident. These ideas led to strong debate on the need to provide
a historical basis for such conclusions and avoid falling into generalisation
and stereotypes (Gribaudi 1993).
Without adding to the debate, I would like here to just simply draw at-
tention to the need to question the presence or absence of social capital in
the Apennine Mountains from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Ogilvie stressed
the importance of nonfamilial and nonmarket institutions (corporations,
communities, religious institutions) in the Early Modern Age because of
their ability to generate rich social capital in terms of rules, information,
182
nature makes it possible to also highlight the role of social capital as an ad-
ditional perspective for a reading of the integrated peasant economy.
Social capital of course concerns the characteristics, properties, and
quality of the social networks through which social actors pursue their
activities. Essentially, it consists of the ‘institutions, relationships, and
norms that shape the quality and quantity of a society’s social interactions’
(Bourdieu 1980; Coleman 1988; World Bank 1998). Analysis in this sense fo-
cuses on the processes that connect people and social groups to each oth-
er and how they generate net benefits and the possibility of achieving oth-
erwise unachievable goals, or those achievable only at higher cost. There is
broad agreement that the presence of social capital facilitates beneficial col-
lective action, which is a prerequisite for adaptation to change, especially
where the formal institutions are still poorly developed.
Applying the category of social capital to southern Italy is no easy task.
The south of Italy has in fact been taken as a key scenario showing how its
backwardness depends precisely on the lack of social capital and an inabil-
ity to act for the common good. Bansfield’s notorious category of “amor-
al familism” that he produced in the 1950s highlights the crucial role of
the family and its pervasive presence in hindering the development of civil
society, intermediate institutions and forms of collective identities, allow-
ing the proliferation of economic and political deviance (clientelism, lack
of political participation, forms of organised crime) (Banfield 1960; Put-
nam 1993). Forty years later, Putnam’s research on civic spirit in the Ital-
ian regions strengthened the thesis of the absence of social capital through
comparison between southern and central/northern Italy. The medieval
tradition of the city-states as they developed in central and north Italy –
tightly-knit urban communities facilitating the transmission of informa-
tion, law enforcement, a sense of belonging and collective action – made the
author’s perception of the moral, civil and economic failure of the South
even more evident. These ideas led to strong debate on the need to provide
a historical basis for such conclusions and avoid falling into generalisation
and stereotypes (Gribaudi 1993).
Without adding to the debate, I would like here to just simply draw at-
tention to the need to question the presence or absence of social capital in
the Apennine Mountains from the 16th to the 18th centuries. Ogilvie stressed
the importance of nonfamilial and nonmarket institutions (corporations,
communities, religious institutions) in the Early Modern Age because of
their ability to generate rich social capital in terms of rules, information,
182
