Not Quite a Capital but Still Capital Results: An Ethnographic Critique of Bourdieu's Notion of Social Capital

The aim of this chapter is twofold. First, it summarizes Bourdieu’s thoughts concerning social capital. Second, it provides an ethnographic critique of the notion. Based on the fieldwork material collected in Dagestan, North Caucasus, Russian Federation, the paper shows how local communities establish public infrastructure projects – such as roads, power lines, or mosques. They often do it by relying only on their own resources, without help from the state. Thus, they not only strive to improve their quality of life but also resist existing social and political inequalities. Somewhat paradoxically, their communal undertakings – being not primarily about economic capital – bring capital results in the form of established infrastructure. The paper shows the limitations of Bourdieu’s theory of social capital when applied to such examples and aims to render the concept more applicable to specific ethnographic contexts.