Implicit knowledge and social capital

Essay from the year 2004 in the subject Philosophy - Miscellaneous, grade: HD, Murdoch University (Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy), course: Self, Sustainability and Society, language: English, abstract: The Brundtland report introduced in the 1980's the terminus Sustainability. In this term there is obviously much more included as simply eco friendly or environmentally sound. In the first instance, the term focuses on the discussion about the dealing with resources for the following generations. The popular three-pillar model of

sustainability illuminates that the idea of sustainability orientates besides on ecological as well on economical and on social criteria. Obviously, the former on environmental-ecological issues restricted theme is widened on social concerns. This paper focuses on the social sphere of sustainability. The participation in the net of social relations is the wholeness of the actual and potential resources and is called social capital (Bourdieu 1992). A developed social capital is needed to make a 'strong' democracy (Barber 1984) work; a form of democracy that involves extending and enriching the present system of representative democracy through participation of interested citizens in the policy making process, strengthening a culture of deliberation and discussion, such that politics is seen as a communal learning process rather than a rivalry between fixed interests. It will be shown t hat the relationships between people are the bearer of social capital.

These relationships, the core of the social, are formed by non-explicit knowledge. Non-explicit knowledge is widely accepted as a matter of course however, in it's meaning strongly underestimated. So, this paper starts with a classic of implicit knowledge (? 1) and continues by widening this concept into the social sphere (? 2). Finally, it brings

together the concept of non-explicit knowledge with social capital and stresses its importance for sustainability (? 3).