ISSN: 2994-9343
Volume 10, Number 1 (2026)
Year Launched: 2016

Social Capital And Global Transformation

Volume 10, Issue 1, February 2026     |     PP. 12-32      |     PDF (396 K)    |     Pub. Date: January 25, 2026
DOI: 10.54647/sociology841532    13 Downloads     76 Views  

Author(s)

Roland Bardy, BardyConsult, Mannheim, Germany

Abstract
Concerted endeavors of all sectors at all levels of society are required for its transformation, and any move towards a new composition is closely related to societal change. For this, a collective effort is needed on all levels, and not the least, on a global scale. This will only work with a unity of purpose. A unity of purpose would achieve that (see, e.g., Dahl, A. L. 2019)
-the world’s businesses, public entities and third sector organizations work together to preserve and improve wellbeing of mankind,
-the controversy of arguments for or against non-market approaches to any economic activity, especially in the delivery of public goods is settled for good,
-a comprehensive agenda is set up a on all societal levels for maintaining and expanding public goods, whether tangible ones or intangible ones,
-decision-making support for communal efforts on public goods is built from whichever source,
-communal efforts are made visible and measurable through measuring and valuating public goods (as monetization will also contribute to ease funding decisions),
-the interdependencies and interrelationships of the Social Development Goals (SDGs) are utilized as they are essential for the wellbeing and the survival of mankind.
This would mean that for achieving new stages of development, i.e., new stages of the common good, common efforts are needed which combine s what has been generally confined either to the public or to the private sectors (Bürgenmeier 2012). The quintessence is that all members of society do not act in isolation, and that the pursuit of their own interest necessarily crosses each other’s paths in the process. They must ask themselves what they can do to contribute to the effort. And they need institutions, local and global, must “get it right”, as per a statement of Nobel laureate Amartya Sen (Sen 2010, p. 57). Private and corporate citizens look for effectiveness of institutions, in the first place, Sen claims; the claim for ‘just’ institutions comes second. On a global scale, three perspectives come into mind: One is what has been called the transformation of issue spaces (Ruggie 2004 a), the other is globally active civil society organizations and the third is building and utilizing social capital.

Keywords
Social Capital, Global Transformation, Collective Action, Issue Spaces

Cite this paper
Roland Bardy, Social Capital And Global Transformation , SCIREA Journal of Sociology. Volume 10, Issue 1, February 2026 | PP. 12-32. 10.54647/sociology841532

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