Social capital is in danger of going the way of political culture—a potentially powerful concept that is given many different meanings by many different people for many different purposes. This article starts by picking out three different aspects or dimensions of the concept—norms (especially trust), networks, and consequences. It then considers three models of social capital and the forms of trust and democracy associated with them. Finally it discusses the role of voluntary associations as a foundation for social capital, arguing that their importance may be overstated in the classical Tocquevillean model of the 19th century, and that, in any case, modern democracy may be increasingly based on different forms of trust and association.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
Ardener, S. (1964). The comparative study of rotating credit associations. Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, 94, 201-239.
2.
Arrow, K. J. (1972). Gifts and exchanges. Philosophy and Public Affairs, 1.
3.
Barton, S. E. , & Silverman, C. J. (Eds.). (1994). Common interest communities: Private governments and the public interest. Berkeley, CA: Institute of Governmental Studies.
4.
Bianco, W. T. (1994). Trust: Representatives and constituents. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
5.
Burtt, S. (1993). The politics of virtue today: A critique and a proposal. American Political Science Review, 87, 360-368.
6.
Burtt, S. (1995). Response. American Political Science Review, 89, 148-151.
7.
Cohen, J. , & Rogers, J. (1992). Secondary associations and democratic governance. Politics and Society, 20, 393-472.
8.
Coleman, J. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American Journal of Sociology, 94, 95-120.
9.
Coleman, J. (1990). Foundations of social theory. Cambridge, MA: Belknap.
10.
Conover, P. J. , & Searing, D. D. (1995, September). Citizens and members: Foundations for participation. Paper prepared for the annual meeting of the American Political Science Association, Chicago, IL.
11.
Dalton, R. J. (1988). Citizen politics in Western democracies. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.
12.
Duncan, C. M. (1995). Civic virtue and self-interest. American Political Science Review, 89, 147-148.
13.
Etzioni, A. (1993). The spirit of community. New York: Crown.
14.
Evans, S. M. , & Boyte, H. C. (1992). Free spaces. Chicago: Chicago University Press.
15.
Foley, M. W. , & Edwards, B. (1996). The paradox of civil society. Journal of Democracy, 7, 38-52.
16.
Fukuyama, F. (1995). Trust: The social virtues and the creation of prosperity. London: Hamish Hamilton.
17.
Geertz, C. (1962). The rotating credit association: A “middle rung” in development. Economic Development and Cultural Change, 10, 241-263.
18.
Gittell, M. (1980). Limits to citizen participation: The decline of community organizations. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.
19.
Granovetter, M. (1973). The strength of weak ties. American Journal of Sociology, 78, 1360-1380.
20.
Greeley , (1997). Coleman revisited: Religious structures as a source of social capital. American Behavioral Scientist, 40, 586-593.
21.
Gundelach, P. , & Torpe, L. (1996). Voluntary associations: New types of involvement and democracy. Paper presented to the ECPR Joint Sessions of Workshops, Oslo, Norway.
22.
Inglehart, R. (1988). The renaissance of political culture. American Political Science Review, 82, 1203-1230.
23.
Inglehart, R. (1990). Culture shift in advanced industrial society. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
24.
Kolankiewicz, G. (1994, summer). Elites in search of a political formula. Daedalus, 143-157.
25.
Kollock, P. (1994). The emergence of exchange structures: An experimental study of uncertainty, commitment, and trust. American Journal of Sociology, 100, 313-345.
26.
Levi, M. (1996). Social and unsocial capital: A review essay of Robert Putnam'sMaking Democracy Work. Politics and Society, 24, 45-55.
27.
Locke, J. Second treatise on government.
28.
Luhmann, N. (1988). Familiarity, confidence, trust: Problems and alternatives. In D. Gambetta (Ed.), Trust: Making and breaking cooperative relations (pp. 94-107). Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
29.
Mill, J. S. (1910). Utilitarianism, liberty and representative government. London: Dent.
30.
Misztal, B. A. (1996). Trust In modern societies. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
31.
Mulhall, S. , & Swift, A. (1992). Liberals and communitarians. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
32.
Neidhardt, F. (1985). Einige Ideen zu einer allgemeinen Theorie sozialer Bewegungen. In S. Hradil (Ed.), Sozialstruktur im Umbruch. Opladen: Leske & Budrich.
33.
Neidhardt, F. , & Rucht, D. (1993). Auf dem Weg in die “Bewegungsgesellschaft”?Soziale Welt, 44, 305-326.
34.
Newton, K. (1996). The mass media and modern government. Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin fur Sozialforschung, Discussion Paper No. FS III, pp. 96-301.
35.
Niedermayer, O. (1995). Trust and sense of community. In O. Niedermayer & R. Sinnott (Eds.), Public opinion and internationalized governance (pp. 227-245). Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press.
36.
Norris, P. (1996, September). Does television erode social capital? A reply to Putnam. PS, 1-7.
37.
Ostrom, E. (1990). Governing the commons: The evolution of institutions for collective action. New York: Cambridge University Press.
38.
Parry, G. , Moyser, G., & Day, N. (1992). Political participation and democracy in Britain. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
39.
Pateman, C. (1970). Participation and democratic theory. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
40.
Putnam, R. D. (1993). Making democracy work: Civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
41.
Putnam, R. D. (1994). Tuning in, tuning our: The strange disappearance of social capital in America. PS, December 1995, 664-683.
42.
Putnam, R. D. (1995). Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6, 65-78.
43.
Sahlins, M. (1972). Stone age economics. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine.
44.
Sartori, G. (1989). Video power. Government and Opposition, 24(1), 39-53.
45.
Simmel, G. (1950). The sociology of Georg Simmel. New York: Free Press.
46.
Shils, E. (1991). The virtue of civil society. Government and Opposition, 26, 2-20.
47.
Tarrow, S. (1994). Power in movements, social movements, collective action and politics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
48.
Tarrow, S. (1996). Making social science work across space and time: A critical reflection on Robert Putnam's Making Democracy Work. American Political Science Review, 90, 389-397.
49.
Tocqueville, A. de. (1968). Democracy in America. London: Fontana.
50.
Uslaner, E. M. (n.d.). Faith, hope, and charity: Social capital, trust, and collective action (mimeo).
51.
van Deth, J. W. (1996). Social and political involvement: An overview and reassessment of empirical findings. Paper presented at the Joint Sessions of Workshops of the European Consortium for Political Research, Oslo, Norway.
52.
Verba, S. , & Nie, N. H. (1972). Participation in America. New York: Harper & Row.
53.
Verba S. , Schlozman, K. L., & Brady, H. E. (1995). Voice and equality: Civic voluntarism in American politics. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
54.
Williams, B. (1988). Formal structures and social reality. In D. Gambetta (Ed.), Trust: Making and breaking cooperative relations. Oxford, UK: Basil Blackwell.
55.
Wuthnow, R. (1994). Sharing the journey: Support groups and America's new quest for community. New York: Free Press.
