Labor and social capital: disengaging from social justice?

Abstract

Mark Latham's enthusiasm for building social capital signals a probable retreat by the Labor Party from its traditional commitment to redistributive social justice policies. Building social capital is meant to restore "trust" and "values" to communities ravaged by neo-liberal economic policies, which paradoxically Labor shows no signs of abandoning. The embrace of neo-liberal economic policies by the Hawke-Keating Labor Governments was accompanied by redistributive spending on social justice initiatives to assuage Labor's electoral base, which allowed interest groups allied to Labor to mute their criticism of the neo-liberal agenda. But social capital initiatives do not directly redistribute resources. Building social capital is essentially a conservative agenda to build profitable networks for individuals, with an unpleasant "dark side", which can exclude unprofitable outsiders. It is argued that unless an incoming Labor Government continues a real commitment to redistributive policies it will have difficulty holding the allegiance of its traditional support base, with implications for its ability to retain power. Key documents in the social capital debate in Australia are reviewed, including an analysis of the published writings and public statements of Mark Latham.