Through working with the Public Engagement Policy of the University of Manchester and working closely with Susan Brown, I was called to do a presentation in University of Manchester on ‘Rethinking Inequality in Historical Perspective’. Pedro Ramos Pinto and Patrick Joyce were the key organizers and invited me to make a contribution by virtue of the Ragged project, as it is both an inclusive project and one borrowed from history.
All the Ragged University events are free and open to everyone. With the project model having been tested and critiqued widely, Ragged University is now moving forward to explore how many positives can come from doing something so straight forward as open learning events where people talk in social spaces. Much well intentioned comment has come with the perspective that Ragged should charge for the events, even if just a token amount.
Well, this is not something which is going to happen as it would change the model in a fundamental way.
So, what is social capital? Jeremy Shearmur describes social capital as loosely as situations where people choose to voluntarily associate with each other and where membership in that group serves as a free resource to those members. Why is it important ? I feel that social capital is important because it helps to express aspects of community and belonging. I suppose that it is because we are social creatures and I suggest we are social creatures because of the greater benefits of being part of a community than of being solitary. Read more…
An interesting book is Social Capital; Key Ideas by John Field (ISBN-10: 0415433037), Director of the Division of Academic Innovation and Continuing Education at the University of Stirling. Social Capital is a term which has been popularised by the American political scientist Robert D. Putnam, who defined it as:
features of social organisation, such as trust, norms and networks, that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating coordinated actions