Groups as a means or an end? Social capital and the promotion of cooperation in Ghana

Porter, G.; Lyon, F.

doi:10.1068/d0303

Groups as a means or an end? Social capital and the promotion of cooperation in Ghana

Porter, G.; Lyon, F.

Authors

Professor Gina Porter r.e.porter@durham.ac.uk
Professor

F. Lyon

Abstract

In the past two decades there has been a growing emphasis within the international development industry on promoting group activity. In this paper we chart how interpretation of the loose concept of social capital has shaped donor and NGO discourses on, and their preoccupation with, groups. Donors are using blueprints of group cooperation in an asocial and aspatial manner that ignores local specificities of place, space and cultural context. An empirical case is examined that demonstrates how donor discourse is reinterpreted, translated, and even rejected by players at different spatial scales. The reasons for continued donor preoccupation with groups in the face of local resistances are explored.

Citation

Porter, G., & Lyon, F. (2006). Groups as a means or an end? Social capital and the promotion of cooperation in Ghana. Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24(2), 249-262. https://doi.org/10.1068/d0303

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	Jun 1, 2006
Deposit Date	May 16, 2007
Publicly Available Date	Nov 19, 2014
Journal	Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
Print ISSN	0263-7758
Electronic ISSN	1472-3433
Publisher	SAGE Publications
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	24
Issue	2
Pages	249-262
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1068/d0303
Keywords	Groups, Social capital, Trust, Ghana, Culture.

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Copyright Statement
Gina Porter, Fergus Lyon, 2006. The definitive peer-reviewed and edited version of this article is published in Environment and Planning D: Society and Space, 24(2), 249-262, 2006, 10.1068/d0303.