The Contribution of a Social Enterprise to the Building of Social Capital in a Disadvantaged Urban Area of London.

There has been much enthusiasm over the past 10 years for the potential contribution of social enterprises to the regeneration of disadvantaged urban areas. This enthusiasm has far outstripped the availability of empirical evidence. This paper reports a qualitative study of one social enterprise, a community café, and its contribution to building social capital in a disadvantaged urban area in London. The analysis reveals how the café builds 'bonding' and 'bridging' social capital whilst also addressing 'downside' social capital. Overall, the manager of the social enterprise played a considerable role in facilitating the development of social capital, thus emphasising the importance of individuals and their attitudes, skills, and background in urban regeneration. However, the role of the social enterprise in building 'linking' social capital was minor. In this instance, more effective mechanisms of community engagement need to be put in place in order to empower local residents and organisations.

[1]  M. Bertotti,et al.  Key barriers to community cohesion: views from residents of 20 London deprived neighbourhoods , 2012, GeoJournal.

[2]  A. Amin.  Extraordinarily ordinary: working in the social economy , 2009 .

[3]  John L. Thompson.  Social enterprise and social entrepreneurship: where have we reached?: A summary of issues and discussion points , 2008 .

[4]  Soumyananda Dinda.  Social Capital in the Creation of Human Capital and Economic Growth: A Productive Consumption Approach , 2007 .

[5]  Alan F. Kay.  Social capital, the social economy and community development , 2006 .

[6]  William Keogh,et al.  Social enterprise: a case of terminological ambiguity and complexity , 2006 .

[7]  F. Cleaver.  The inequality of social capital and the reproduction of chronic poverty , 2005 .

[8]  David Isaacs,et al.  The World Café: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter , 2005 .

[9]  C. Borzaga,et al.  The Emergence of Social Enterprise , 2001 .

[10]  James DeFilippis,et al.  The myth of social capital in community development , 2001 .

[11]  R. Putnam,et al.  Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy. , 1994 .

[12]  J. Richardson.  Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education , 1986 .

[13]  Banfield,et al.  MORAL BASIS OF A BACKWARD SOCIETY , 1958 .

[14]  Rachel Aldred,et al.  From community participation to organizational therapy? World Café and Appreciative Inquiry as research methods , 2011 .

[15]  Adrian Sherwin Morley,et al.  Social enterprises: diversity and dynamics, contexts and contributions , 2008 .

[16]  D. Putnam,et al.  Pluribus Unum : Diversity and Community in the Twenty-first Century The 2006 , 2007 .

[17]  P. Bourdieu.  Forms of Capital , 2002 .

[18]  Robert D. Putnam,et al.  Bowling alone: the collapse and revival of American community , 2000, CSCW '00.

[19]  Lisa J. Servon.  Credit and social capital: The community development potential of U.S. microenterprise programs , 1998 .

[20]  Amitai Etzioni,et al.  The spirit of community : the reinvention of American society , 1994 .