How does social capital compare with asset-based development?
Much of what Kretzman and McKnight term “community assets” are lodestones of social capital. There is obviously significant benefit to their approach, in observing that all communities have social capital assets on which they can build, and in helping communities identify their community assets. It is also the case that many successful grassroots organizing strategies, like the Industrial Areas Foundation, have built upon already existing stores of social capital. Having said this, we also think that it is important to examine whether the amount of social capital in communities is increasing or decreasing, and not to assume that simply because there are community assets, that the stock of social capital is adequate, plentiful, or growing.
