Barkley: > Bourdieu's concept is not exactly Marxist but is a lot closer in that >it emphasizes social relations. He develops it in the context of >traditional societies and sees at as a kind of balancing between people in >terms of obligations. Thus a Northwestern American Indian might gain >"social capital" by holding a very big potlatch which then puts his >neighbors under a social obligation to him. Sounds like he has been influenced by Maurice Godelier, who had similar notions but in his case the potlatch was literally seen in terms of the Marxist mode of production. I just don't like French thinkers. They are a bunch of verbose intellectual snobs. I prefer Italians, Peruvians and Trinidadians. Louis Proyect (http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)