This thesis investigates the management of social capital processes as they are accomplished-understood, experienced and shaped-by owner-managers. The aim of the thesis is to develop a deeper understanding of the management of social capital processes, to achieve a greater congruence between real-life perspectives and experiences and social capital literature. The thesis argues that social capital is situational, and in the economic situation the theory has been bounded by rational choice framing assumptions. The research problem is that claims for the universality of the economic way of looking at life, and for looking at social capital processes are over-stated. Predicated on this insight the research investigates economic notions of rationality, and low and non-rationality, as well as their inter-dependence in the management of social capital processes. The research follows a qualitative approach for data collection, with flexible pre-coding to guide the research where to look, while retaining an inductive openness to emergent data. The research population is drawn from SME owner-managers in the service and retail sectors, who were researched over two years using semi-structured interviews, observation, and by researcher participant observation. The thesis presents a number of contributions to knowledge. First, the thesis offers an in-depth, single source review explicating the meaning of the economic form of social capital, with reference to its intellectual antecedents, conceptual debates and key theoretical authors. The second (emergent research) contribution is to identify the significance of ethics and autodidactic reading for managing social capital processes. The third (theoretical) contribution argues for an expanded social capital perspective, beyond the prevailing and over-confident rational framing assumptions, and also for a new holistic ontological understanding. The fourth contribution is to identify a number of generic processes which can guide the management of social capital processes.

Miljonprogrammet tillkom genom en storslagen politisk satsning under det expansiva 60-talet. Produktionen lades utanför städerna och vilade på funktionalism och stordriftsfördelar. Trots minutiös social ingenjörskonst hade ingen kunnat förutse att många av de hyresgäster, som befolkade miljonprogrammet till en början, inom några år skulle flytta till egna småhus. Kvar blev de socioekonomiskt svagare hyresgästerna. Dessa områden präglas idag överlag av många in och utflyttningar. I Sverige finns ett miljonprogramsområde i varje medelstor stad. Dessa områden kännetecknas av samma typ av problematik; hög arbetslöshet, höga ohälsotal och lågt valdeltagande. I den politiska debatten väcks ofta förslag om att man ska bygga om eller riva delar av miljonprogrammen. Andra menar att problemen bekämpas genom att åtgärda makroekonomiska problem i samhället i stort. Få av dessa förslag kretsar kring teorier om socialt kapital och vad det sociala kapitalet enligt vissa välkända statsvetare kan åstadkomma i samhällen. Syftet med denna uppsats är således att kvalitativt beskriva det sociala kapitalet i ett miljonprogramsområde i Linköping. Vi vill även studera huruvida det sociala kapitalet kan bidra till en demokratisk utveckling i stadsdelen. Det är vår förhoppning att våra slutsatser kan generaliseras till andra miljonprogramsområden i Sverige. Det sociala kapitalet beskrivs och analyseras utifrån tretton genomförda intervjuer med tjänstemän och föreningsrepresentanter i stadsdelen. Det görs med teoretisk hjälp av statsvetarna Robert D. Putnam och Bo Rothstein samt sociologen James S. Coleman. Vi kommer fram till att det förekommer stora variationer av socialt kapital i stadsdelen. Det finns en stor mängd av det Putnam kallar för sammanbindande socialt kapital. Samtidigt uppvisar stadsdelen en brist på det överbyggande sociala kapitalet, som på allvar skulle kunna bidra till ett demokratiskt lyft i stadsdelen. Det menar vi beror på etniska grupperingar och stora omflyttningar, som gör det irrationellt att investera i socialt kapital för den enskilde. Särskilda politiska insatser kan av de skälen motiveras i stadsdelen. / “The million programme”, an ambitious housing programme, took place in Sweden between the years 1965-1974. During this period 1006000 dwellings were built, which represents about a quarter of the contemporary housing stock in Sweden. The programme was due to a strong political will from the Social democratic party to erase the demand surplus on housing that had existed in Sweden until then. The production of the housing took place in the outskirts of the cities and was based on ideas of functionalism and scale economy. Despite extensive social engineering no one had been able to foresee that after a couple of years many of the tenants moved away from the new residential areas, choosing instead to live in single-family, detached houses. Those who were left behind were mostly families of low socioeconomic status. Most Swedish medium sized cities still have a residential area from this period. These areas are nowadays often characterized by a lot of passing tenants, high unemployment and unhealthy rate. Few of the residents visit the polls on election day. Many politicians argue that the socioeconomic problems in these areas can be improved by restorement or deconstruction of housing. Others mean that in order to solve the socioeconomic problems in these areas you have to tackle the macroeconomic problems in modern society. Few of the proposals revolve around social capital and the ideas that well-known political scientists have about the importance for wellbeing in societies. The aim of this essay is therefore to qualitatively describe the social capital in a residential area built as a part of the million programme in the town Linköping and see how it can contribute to the democratic process. Hopefully our conclusions can be generalized to other similar residential areas in Sweden. The description of the social capital consists of the tellings of county officials and representatives of local associations. The information they have provided was analyzed with the help of theorists Robert D. Putnam, Bo Rothstein and James S. Coleman. We conclude that there exist substantial variations in the social capital in the residential area that we have studied. There exists an extensive amount of what Putnam calls bonding social capital in the neighbourhood, but there is also a lack of bridging social capital that could significantly improve the democratic process in the area. This is due to ethnic groupings and great numbers of passing residents which makes investments in social capital irrational for the individual. Specific political support for these residential areas can therefore be motivated.