Social Capital Formation through Chinese School Communities

Abstract

We investigate how communities in China use schools to create and reproduce the values, knowledge, and social expectations that engender social capital. We focus on private and girls’ education, and report on the experiences of four schools between 1995 and 2005. We argue that, beyond schools’ contribution to the skills acquired by individual students, whether they promote the formation of social capital within communities should be a part of our assessment of their effectiveness. Schools as centers of activism can provide communities a forum for formulating their social demands and identities. In this context, social capital formation provides a useful heuristic for reclaiming the language of social justice and considering the human ends of education.

Citation

Ross, H. and Lin, J. (2006), "Social Capital Formation through Chinese School Communities", Hannum, E. and Fuller, B. (Ed.) Children's Lives and Schooling across Societies (Research in the Sociology of Education, Vol. 15), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 43-69. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1479-3539(06)15003-X