Towards a Sociological Understanding of Human Capital in a Fluid Society in a State of Crisis

Abstract

The importance of human capital and human development for understanding economics and social relations has repeatedly been proven since the time of Adam Smith. Theories on human capital and human development were conceptualized in their modern form in the USA in the 1960’s to 1980’s. However, in recent decades they have been seriously criticized in scientific literature, primarily due to issues pertaining to how they approach measurement. In this article a critical revision of the main approaches towards evaluating human capital in modern social sciences is conducted. New strategies for measuring human capital and human development include not only a “quantitative” indicator (number of years spent receiving formal education), but also an indicator showing the quality of acquired knowledge and skills. Such approaches provide a possibility to observe the improvement or degradation of human capital outside of conventional formal education, which allows perceiving human capital as embedded in the processes of local social, economic and historical development. This historical rootedness of human capital and human development seems to be of utmost importance for fluid societies in a state of crisis. The prospects for sociologization of the concepts of human capital and human development as well as the potential of life-course sociology for their analysis are discussed. It is suggested to view human capital through a cohort approach lens. The discussion outlines research strategies for studying human capital and human development within the proposed logic.