Beyond social capital. The production of popular housing in Buenos Aires

Abstract

In Latin America, “social capital” is a concept which is widely used -at local, national and supra-national level- as a fundamental recommendation to support social policies on poverty reduction and social housing. The intention of this paper is to point out the limits that the disparity in definitions and the ambiguous use of the term imposes on its interpretative and explanatory ability, in relation to the very complex social processes in which it is enrolled. It tries to exemplify this point analyzing two relevant social housing projects that are ongoing in the city of Buenos Aires. From that interpretation, it concludes mobilization capacity and resource availability linked to social capital, involve political struggles and play an important role in the effectiveness of that process.