Editing Social capital (section)

=== Social inequality ===
[[James Samuel Coleman|James Coleman]] (1988) has indicated that social capital eventually led to the creation of [[human capital]] for the future generation.<ref name="auto" /> '''Human capital''', a private resource, could be accessed through what the previous generation accumulated through social capital. John Field (2003) suggested that such a process could lead to the very inequality social capital attempts to resolve.<ref>John Field, 2003. ''Social Capital''</ref> While Coleman viewed social capital as a relatively neutral resource, he did not deny the class reproduction that could result from accessing such capital, given that individuals worked toward their own benefit.

Even though Coleman never truly addresses [[Pierre Bourdieu]] in his discussion, this coincides with Bourdieu's argument set forth in ''Reproduction in Education, Society and Culture''. Bourdieu and Coleman were fundamentally different at the theoretical level (as Bourdieu believed the actions of individuals were rarely ever conscious, but more so only a result of their ''[[Habitus (sociology)|habitus]]'' being enacted within a particular field, but this realization by both seems to undeniably connect their understanding of the more latent aspects of social capital.

According to Bourdieu, '''habitus''' refers to the social context within which a social actor is socialized. Thus, it is the social platform, itself, that equips one with the social reality they become accustomed to. Out of habitus comes field, the manner in which one integrates and displays their habitus. To this end, it is the social exchange and interaction between two or more [[Agency (sociology)|social actors]]. To illustrate this, we assume that an individual wishes to better his place in society. He therefore accumulates social capital by involving himself in a social network, adhering to the norms of that group, allowing him to later access the resources (e.g. social relationships) gained over time. If, in the case of education, he uses these resources to better his educational outcomes, thereby enabling him to become [[Social mobility|socially mobile]], he effectively has worked to reiterate and reproduce the stratification of society, as social capital has done little to alleviate the system as a whole. This may be one negative aspect of social capital, but seems to be an inevitable one in and of itself, as are all forms of capital.{{Citation needed|date=August 2011}}