Copyright of Full Text rests with the original copyright owner and, except as pennitted under the Copyright Act 1968, copying this copyright material is prohibited 'Nithout the pennission of the owner or its exclusive licensee or agent or by way oCa licence from Copyright Agency Limited. For infonnation about such licences contact Copyright Agency Limited on (02) 93947600 (ph) or (02) 93947601 (fax) TRACING THE RATIONAL CHOICE ORIGINS OF SOCIAL CAPITAL: IS SOCIAL CAPITAL A NEO-L1BERAL "TROJAN HORSE"? Ben Spies-Butcher Introduction Both policy and academic debates create new terms and concepts, either to describe new - or newly discovered - realities or to develop new ways of understanding those realities. These terms and concepts are often both politically loaded - as the recent debates over 'welfare reform' and 'welfare dependency' demonstrate _ and poorly defined. However, because the terms and concepts of policy debate so insistently shape the way we frame and analyse social problems and their potential remedies, engaging with new policy languages is essential to properly understand and address contemporary policy concerns. The need to understand new terms of policy development debate, and analysis has already generated some very useful explorations of the development and usage of key terms. Work by Nancy Fraser and Linda Gordon ( 1994) on 'dependency', Richard Mulgan (2000) on 'accountability' and more recently in this journal. Brendon O'Connor's examination of the origins of 'welfare dependency' (200 I l, for example. has given insight into the ways earlier theoretical traditions and debates inform contemporary policy discussions. In the same vein, this article sets out to explore the origins of the concept of 'social capital', particularly within rational choice debates over the role of the state. Social capital's rise came largely after the publication of Robert Putnam's Making Democracy Work (1993). It has since been taken up by a number of academics, policy makers and activists in Australia. However. in this country, emphasis has been placed on the concept's ability to challenge the tenets of traditional rational choice theory and the agenda of economic liberalism that is associated with it. Writers such as Eva Cox (1995), Mark Lyons (1997) and Jenny Onyx (1996) make clear a general Ben Spies-Butcher is a Research Officer at Ihe Edmund Rice Centre for Justice and Community Education, and a PhD candidate in Political Economy at The University of Sydney. Ben Spies-Butcher: The Rational Choice Origins DJ Social Capital 173 200207681