Investing in social capital is about the future of Australia as a knowledge economy and learning society. It is a critical discussion of postgraduate education in the social sciences, something which has long been overdue. For while much fine work is being done in the social sciences, not all is well–and when the social sciences sneeze, then the nation catches cold. These disciplines comprise a third of Australia’s graduate research effort and are engaged in the full range of governmental, business and cultural institutions.

Coordinated by the Academy of the Social Sciences in Australia, and edited by higher education expert Professor Simon Marginson of Monash University, Investing in social capital includes chapters on anthropology, economics, psychology, public health, management and business, law, education, indigenous studies and Australian studies/Australian history.