Social Capital in Britain

Abstract

Recent findings show an apparent erosion in the United States over the post-war years of 'social capital' understood as the propensity of individuals to associate together on a regular basis, to trust one another, and to engage in community affairs. This article examines the British case for similar trends, finding no equivalent erosion. It proposes explanations for the resilience of social capital in Britain, rooted in educational reform, the transformation of the class structure, and government policy. It concludes by drawing some general lessons from the British case that stress the importance of the distributive dimensions of social capital and the impact that governments can have on it.Political scientists have long been interested in how the organization of society and the structure of social relations might condition the effectiveness of governance and especially the stability, responsiveness or policy performance of democratic governments. Such issues can be approached from at least two perspectives. Some emphasize the importance of organizations more or less 'purpose-built' for the transmission of political demands or deeply implicated in the implementation of policy, such as political parties and the organized interest groups that figure prominently in analyses of pluralism, consociationalism and neo-corporatism. 1 Others stress the effects of a more diffuse set of social relations, whether rooted in the family, community, class structure or associational life, of the sort that are often said to be constitutive of political culture. 2 In recent years, this second line of enquiry has been given new life by a

The contribution of adult learning to health and social capital

“…Although there is less evidence to support this thesis in the United Kingdom (Hall, 1999) there are similar policy concerns regarding civil society. Educational level correlates with civic participation (Putnam, 2000), but there is little quantitative evidence that educational interventions, such as adult learning, increase civic participation.…”

Das soziale Kapital der Schweiz: vergleichende Einschätzungen zu Aspekten des Vertrauens und der sozialen Einbindung

“…5 Das dritte Argument spricht die zu schliessende Forschungslücke an. Angetrieben von den empirischen Ergebnissen zu den Konsequenzen des Sozialkapitals einerseits und dem Befund einer stark abnehmenden Soziabilität in den Vereinigten Staaten andererseits (Putnam 1995a(Putnam , 1995b(Putnam , 2000(Putnam , 2001a, wurden für nahezu jede europäische Gesellschaft Analysen zum zentralen Kriterium erfolgreicher Zivilgesellschaften durchgeführt (Cusack 1999;Deth et al 1999;Hall 1999;Immerfall 1997Immerfall , 1999Newton 1999b;Offe und Fuchs 2001;Putnam 2001b;Torcal und Montero 1999: 176f.). Aus eidgenössischer Perspektive fällt auf, dass der Bestand an Sozialvermögen in der Schweiz weder in vergleichend angelegten Untersuchungen noch im Rahmen einer Einzelfallstudie diskutiert wurde und damit bislang eine "terra incognita" der Sozialkapitalforschung darstellt.…”

Models of Civil Society and Their Implications for the Northern Ireland Peace Process

“…4 It is important to make these distinctions because definitions are crucial to assessing the influence or otherwise of civil society in political processes. Research on Britain suggests that it also has high levels of associational life and social capital and, although there is no specific data on Northern Ireland (Hall, 1999), it would seem likely that it would follow British trends. It is forgotten too often that Northern Ireland has a network of Rotary Clubs, Lions Clubs, Credit Unions, St. John Ambulance Divisions, charity shops, local football, rugby, cricket clubs, Gateway clubs and so on.…”