Lin (sociology, Duke U.) presents his theory of social capital, in which resources imbedded in a social structure are accessed and/or mobilized in purposive action. Wedding his theory with classical and neoclassical notions of capital, he suggest s that resources can be seen as material or symbolic goods. The way in which meaning and significance are assigned to those goods are at the heart of his analysis. He argues that social exchange is characterized by a similar rationality as economic exchange. The theory is applied to certain societal transformations (such as the rise of women's studies departments in academia) to test its validity. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)