The dark social capital as an effective way in getting things done: explaining dark sides of social capital in Albania

Abstract

For almost three decades, social capital has become an important concept (and

a variable) that has attracted much attention in the social science literature to

explain various social problems and phenomena. In the many debates that have

taken place about the role of social capital, conceived at different levels, it should

be noted that its value is seen mainly in positive terms, emphasizing the potential

benefits that the possession of social capital in itself has for the individual and

society as a whole. The negative consequences that “dark” social capital produces

on the relationships between people and for the society have been largely ignored

in the literature. The focus in this paper will be precisely on the negative societal

consequences that the possession of social capital of a certain form, the “dark” one,

has on the individuals that make up a particular society. In this study, the role of

norms and social structure of society is emphasized as essential for the formation

of social capital that individuals within it possess. Social capital understood in

this way is seen as reflective of the social structure of society, as it is this structure

that generates various forms of social capital. Albania will be the empirical

case where the theoretical framework of this study will be applied (in Part III),

highlighting the negative impacts that dark social capital has on Albanian society

at the expense of breaking its established formal universalistic rules.