Ecological modernization and its relations with social capital

Abstract

This article tries to establish a link between the ecological modernization theory and the theory of social capital in an attempt to study in depth the environmental reform of society and to open new lines of research in environmental sociology and public policy analysis. First of all, we consider the main contributions of the ecological modernization theory to the study of the environmental reform of society. Secondly, we analyse the concept of social capital as a determinant variable in the design of public policies and the main ideas of the theory of social capital in the study of the political sphere. The idea that links the ecological modernization with the social capital is that the process of creation of collaboration networks between the State, the companies, the environmental organizations and the citizens can give place to a better and more efficient solution to environmental problems.