Keith Denny

Social Capital and Health: a Critical History of a Concept Keith Denny

In this work, Keith Denny argues that social capital as a concept has come to prominence in the study of population health as a substitute for dealing with more structural factors in the explanation of inequalities in health. This development, Denny maintains, reflects the emergence of a broader communitarian liberal discourse that characterizes many of the problems that beset modern societies as resulting from the behavioural propensities of individuals rather than the structuring of the societies themselves. Denny argues that both the recasting of social democracy and the repositioning of neoliberalism, in the wake of the latter's successes, are coalescing around a common theme of diminished social capital. In describing the history of the concept of social capital as well as critiquing its use by researchers who limit the scope of the structural to social interactions and behaviours, this book provides an additional dimension for those interested in debates on health inequalities.