Ceron-Anaya on Gaggio, _In Gold We Trust: Social Capital and Economic Change in the Italian Jewelry Towns_

[eh.net-review at eh.net]

Published by EH.NET (October 2007)

Dario Gaggio, _In Gold We Trust: Social Capital and Economic Change 
in the Italian Jewelry Towns_. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 
2007. xvi + 352 pp. $39.50 (cloth), ISBN: 978-0-691-12697-5.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Hugo Ceron-Anaya. Department of Sociology, 
University of Essex.


_In Gold We Trust_ is an accomplished historical and sociological 
analysis of the development of the Italian gold jewelry industry (at 
Valenza Po in Piedmont, Vicenza in the Veneto, and Arezzo in Tuscany) 
and the same business in the United States (at Providence in Rhode 
Island), during the twentieth century. In doing so, the book not only 
provides the history of the three main centers of gold production in 
Italy and the main one in the U.S., but also a fascinating discussion 
about the conflict and tension economic development generates. The 
work of Dario Gaggio (Associate Professor of History at the 
University of Michigan) utilizes the history of these places to 
engage in a broader theoretical discussion about the meaning of 
social capital and embeddedness. This work seeks to demonstrate that 
the former has been extensively used in a reductionist manner, 
whereas the latter requires a redefinition to better capture the 
complexity of economic life.

Trust is a central concept in Gaggio's book; this notion equally 
allows him to explain why smuggled gold was commonly used in the 
Italian industry, and to analyze why the U.S. government has not been 
able to eliminate exploitative homework practices in Providence, 
despite the efforts made against it. It is worth saying that the 
author does not follow a main stream conception of trust, which links 
the latter to beneficial social practices. On the contrary, he wants 
to provide a more complex and encompassing description of the concept.

The book is divided into seven chapters plus an introduction and 
conclusion section. In the introduction the author situates the three 
Italian jewelry towns analyzed (Valenza Po, Vicenza, and Arezzo) into 
a broader perspective, that of the study of Italian small-scale 
capitalism. It is of special interest to the discussion Gaggio 
develops about the concepts of social capital and embeddedness, as he 
seeks to expand the meaning of these ideas in order to develop 
flexible terms that allow him to encompass apparently contradictory 
categories, such as patronage and trust or illegality and 
development. In this section the author mainly discusses 
Granovetter's ideas regarding embeddedness and trust, as well as 
those of Bourdieu, Coleman, and Putnam in respect to social capital.

In the first and second chapters the author extensively utilizes the 
ideas of space, community and trust to explain the history of the 
Italian town of Valenza Po (in Piedmont), its jewelry entrepreneurs, 
and the importance political notions -- i.e. socialism -- have had in 
shaping social relations. Instead of simply endorsing a notion of 
civic engagement and narrating a successful history of progress, 
Gaggio shows how trust, social networks, institutions and even the 
local economy are cultural practices constantly negotiated within the 
community. In these two sections, the author challenges cultural 
essentialisms -- regarding for instance the progressive North and the 
regressive South -- as well as simplistic accounts about trust, 
economic growth, and building institutions, by showing how these 
elements are shaped by contradictions and struggles.

The third chapter narrates the history of Vicenza (in the Veneto). 
Despite being part of the "progressive" and "social capital rich 
north," it has not been characterized by a history of cooperation or 
mutual support. Gaggio explains how the local political culture -- 
dominated by Christian organizations -- and its early specialization 
in highly mechanized production influenced the creation of a 
mass-production industry with a poorly organized workforce. In this 
town, small artisanal firms have had an ephemeral existence and 
cut-throat competition has been a normal practice. Despite these 
attributes, Vicenza became a key center of jewelry production in 
Italy. The fourth chapter analyzes the history of Arezzo (in 
Tuscany), which created its "jewelry tradition" in the last fifty 
years. This section develops a fascinating account of how the local 
economy became feminized as the jewelry industry expanded; a 
situation that shocked the male-dominated political elite. The 
"problem" was eventually solved by incorporating and empowering men 
into the industry. The recent history of this jewelry town permits 
Gaggio to illustrate the contingent nature of social capital.

Chapter five explores the politics of knowledge, or in other words 
how the latter is deeply connected to the reproduction of social 
hierarchies, the distribution of local resources, the creation of 
social identities, and ultimately to power. These factors are used to 
explain why society in Valenza Po, for instance, hindered the 
introduction of public education, while Arezzo's community in 
contrast embraced it. It is worth noting that unlike the rest of the 
book this chapter is not entirely successful, as Gaggio does not 
fully develop the concept of tacit knowledge, introduced early in the 
section.

Chapter six analyzes the form in which local and global actors have 
interplayed and influenced the construction of the local economy, 
particularly regarding legal and illegal practices. The author 
provides a fascinating explanation about how illegal activities, such 
as smuggling gold, were supported and even encouraged by legal 
actors, such as Swiss banks, local politicians, and jewelers. Chapter 
seven focuses its attention in Rhode Island, the largest jewelry 
district in the U.S. This section seeks to challenge some assumptions 
made about the development of the U.S. economy, it also illustrates 
the existing similarities the jewelry industry in both countries 
have. Gaggio insists that the history of the jewelry industry in 
Providence needs to be framed in light of the local political 
economy. Otherwise, it is not possible to understand why this 
economic activity has been regarded as a failure despite its 
endurance throughout the twentieth century.

The concluding chapter draws the reader back to the early theoretical 
discussion, as the author returns to reassess the notions of trust, 
embeddedness, social capital, and the conflicting nature of economic 
development. It is worth saying that Dario Gaggio's book is indeed a 
successful attempt to challenge economic determinism and cultural 
essentialism, precepts which unfortunately remain very popular within 
the academia.


Hugo Ceron-Anaya is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology, 
University of Essex, UK. His project analyzes the link between 
business communities, economic and cultural globalization, 
upper-class social networks, and golf. It is precisely through this 
sport that the previous issues are bounded together. The analysis 
looks at how ideas such as status, class, distinction, gender, and 
power generate global patterns of social relations.

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