Evaluating the World Bank's concept of social capital: A case study in the politics of participation and organization in a rural Ecuadorian community

This dissertation examines the theoretical and methodological implications of the use of the concept of social capital in community oriented rural economic development. It argues for a reconceptualization of the concept and examines how the World Bank has defined it and applied it. Current definitions of social capital at the World Bank are mostly based on cultural variables, such as trust and cooperation, which are for the most part disassociated from the social organization, economics and politics of rural societies. In order to make social capital more attuned to the political realities of rural development, the concept needs to redefine trust and cooperation and think of them as part of people's history and relations of power.;In order to sustain the above claims, I assessed the differences in participation between agricultural producers associated in formal organizations and those who were not. The results show that there is a limited difference between the participatory attitudes and behaviors of those who are members of producers associations and those who are not. The results support the idea that it is an individual's position in the social structure of the community that predicts more accurately who is more likely to become a member of an association and who is not. In other words, it is not that members of associations are more participative, they simply have more opportunities to participate. Nonetheless, some results indicate that those producers who are members of associations do tend to participate more in community-oriented projects; indicating that participatory attitudes are mainly a result of structural opportunities as determined by how individuals are located in the social structure of their community, but also by cultural attitudes towards participation for the common good.