I've found a lot of people, especially in the upper- and upper-middle classes, often deny the importance of social capital, but I find it to be very important.
Someone from wealth can lose all of their money, and still have the social capital necessary the maintain their class status.
My problem with the essay is that the author assumes complete causation between social capital and real capital. He goes from socio-economic status to personality traits without acknowledging at all what he has done.
Its a good point - regardless of wealth class, someone with relatively less social capital may feel compelled to focus on building his social capital instead of focusing solely on the merit of contribution.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_capital
I've found a lot of people, especially in the upper- and upper-middle classes, often deny the importance of social capital, but I find it to be very important.
Someone from wealth can lose all of their money, and still have the social capital necessary the maintain their class status.