capitale sociale e trappole socio-ecologiche, il caso della pesca delle aragoste a St. Lucia, nelle Indie Occidentali

This thesis adopts a critical perspective to investigate the role social capital plays in social-ecological systems (SESs). While the majority of the literature suggests social capital may enable collective action to solve 'the tragedy of the commons', empirical study of lobster fishery SESs in St. Lucia in the Caribbean shows that social capital foster an even more complex problem of the social-ecological traps. That is, social capital may weaken the work of institutions and intensify the mutual-reinforcing feedback between poverty and resource degradation. To open the 'black box' of these adverse outcomes, the study adapts Bourdieu's analyses to identify three largely-neglected aspects of social capital; namely, its contextuality, its relations to power, and its potential to endanger collective action. Furthermore, the study points out that it is the underlying social structure and power relations that condition social capital and foster social-ecological trap dynamics. To this end, the thesis brings a contribution in three ways: first, it sheds light on the dark side of social capital that is relatively little explored; second, it advises the mechanism through which social capital may reinforce the social-ecological traps and; third, it advances the understanding of the social-ecological trap dynamics which are identified as emerging frontiers for small-scale fisheries research while the analysis of power is currently missing.