measurement and management of performa
nce and with its stated objective of
improving responsiveness and fairness
in access and outcomes. At the same
time, analysts of social capital theory
and its application in education have
pointed out the difficulty of building social capital in spheres traditionally
regarded as outside or beyond the state, in civil society. However I suggest
that such apparent contradictions and di
fficulties are dissolved if we approach
social capital theory and its translation into policy not so much in terms of its
capacity to build positive individual
or collective outcomes, but as an
organised
knowledge
, and ask how and in what ways it
contributes to the constitution of
society as a governable domain.