Conclusion
Although the concept of social capital has been at the core of social science theory and
research for several decades, we remain quite limited in our understanding of how to develop this
commodity when it is either absent or not very effective. The problem of finding ways to build
bridging social capital in group situations dominated by highly dense networks and very
restrictive bonding social capital is especially challenging because the negative externalities
resulting from those situations threaten the very core of liberal democratic institutions.
There are two main pitfalls that arise in dealing with indigenous social capital. The first
is simply to dismiss indigenous social capital as backward and non-adaptive if it is not linked to
some type of bridging social capital. This is the "one size fits all" approach and, not surprisingly,
it evokes strong reactions from members of groups that possess this type of social capital. The
second pitfall, which is as equally destructive as the first, is to proclaim the moral superiority of
a highly exclusive indigenous social capital and to use that judgment as an excuse for its failure
to build bridging ties. This alternative consigns individuals, communities and nations to
isolation and dominance by more powerful groups.
We have tried to offer a third alternative that does not make any assumptions of moral
superiority or inferiority of a given type of indigenous social capital. Nevertheless, we assume
that whatever the character of its indigenous social capital, a group must still participate in a
global economy and this requires building bridging social capital ties. The real challenge is to
identify a strategy for building bridging social capital that is consistent with the bonding ties it
already possesses. Building bridging social capital is essentially a type of collective action or
public good problem and thus the first step is to understand what are the universal problems
facing any aggregate of persons seeking a common goal. We have argued that Mancur Olson's
26