Social capital, social media and gender class reproduction: women, subcultures and the changing patterns of participation in climbing

This chapter will evaluate the nature of social networks in the climbing context and how they contribute to patterns of inclusion and exclusion. The concept of social capital has captured the imagination of both social scientists and policymakers and has drawn upon different perspectives and traditions. These perspectives can be defined in terms of two main traditions: the civic (Coleman 1990; Putman 1993) and the reproductive instrumental dimension (Bourdieu 1984, 1986). Although these two perspectives are informed from different theoretical underpinnings and different domains of analysis, they define the core concept of social capital in similar ways. Social capital is broadly concerned with social networks and connections and these social networks have value both economically and socially for the people and communities who belong or are included in them. Individuals are part of diverse networks that are resource rich and can bring about opportunities and benefits if they are utilized and put to productive use. This chapter will draw specifically on Bourdieu’s instrumental perspective on social capital where resources and capitals in social networks are used and mobilized in pursuit of individual and group interests, power, status and positioning within particular social fields (Bourdieu 1999). This perspective will be used to incorporate the issues of gender, social positioning and class.