Developing social capital: a role for music education and community music in fostering civic engagement and intercultural understanding

Abstract

This article posits that musicking can uniquely foster the development of social capital, which leads to civic engagement and intercultural understanding. I review pertinent literature and build a case that music educators and community musicians have a unique role to play in its development. I also reveal a weakness in the theoretical framework of social capital and in the music research literature, and I advocate for developing a richer theoretical framework that analyses both the development of social capital and the unique civic roles, social skills, habits and dispositions developed in various musical practices.