Social Capital in the City: Community and Civic Life in Philadelphia
Social Capital in the City: Community and Civic Life in Philadelphia
edited by Richardson Dilworth
Temple University Press, 2006 Cloth: 978-1-59213-344-4 | Paper: 978-1-59213-345-1 | eISBN: 978-1-59213-346-8 Library of Congress Classification HN80.P5S64 2006 Dewey Decimal Classification 302.0974811
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
Much of today's heated academic discussion about "social capital" is either theoretical in nature or revolves around national survey data, neither of which adequately explains the specific social networks that actually sustain life in cities. This is the first book about social capital that both spans a broad range of social contexts and time periods and focuses on a single city, Philadelphia. Contributors examine such subjects as voter behavior, education, neighborhood life, church participation, park advocacy, and political activism. The wide scope of the book reflects its concern for comprehending the uniqueness and diversity of urban social networks.Moving beyond typical definitions, the original essays collected here utilize case studies to demonstrate how social capital is nested in larger structures of power and cannot be appreciated without an understanding of context. Arguing that urban society is "social capital writ large," contributors complicate and deepen our knowledge of a crucial concept and its fruitful applications.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Richardson Dilworth is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Drexel University and author of The Urban Origins of Suburban Autonomy.
REVIEWS
"This book is an important corrective to somewhat bland and self-evident understandings of social capital which tend to ignore the deeply contested nature of urban space."
—City
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Table of Contents
Acknowledgements
Foreword
Seymour Mandelbaum
Introduction: The Place that Loves You Back?
Richardson Dilworth
Part I: Social Capital in Historical Context
1 The 1876 Centennial in Philadelphia: Elite Networks and Political Culture 32 Jerome Hodos
2 Bonfires, Fistfights, and Roaring Cannons:
Election Day and the Creation of Social Capital in the City of Philadelphia 63 Mark Brewin
3 Community Advocacy and Volunteerism in Wissahickon Park, 1895-2005 86 David R. Contosta and Carol L. Franklin
Part II: Social Capital in Urban Education
4 Leveraging Social Capital: The University as Educator and Broker 121 Barbara Ferman
5 Community-Based Education in West Philadelphia:
The Promise and Limits of Social Capital Production 153 Melina Patterson
Part III: Neighborhood-Based Social Capital and Local Institutions
6 Credit Unions and Social Capital in Philadelphia 189 Michael Janson
7 The Comparative Disadvantage of African American-Owned Enterprises:
Ethnic Succession and Social Capital in Black Communities 212 Jennifer Lee
8 Whose Social Capital?
How Economic Development Projects Disrupt Local Social Relations 240 Judith Goode and Robert T. O'Brien
9 Rootedness, Isolation, and Social Capital in an Inner-City White Neighborhood 270 Patricia Stern Smallacombe
10 Wellsprings of Social Capital: African American Churchwomen in Philadelphia 298 Valeria Harvell
Conclusion: The Declining Political Value of Social Capital 317 Matthew Crenson and Benjamin Ginsberg
About the Authors 349
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