Social capital

Abstract

As many studies have shown that face-to-face interaction within voluntary organizations have little effect on social capital formation, scholars have concluded that the role ascribed to such organizations is exaggerated. However, weak socialization effects do not preclude strong institutional effects. Using European Social Survey (ESS) data, we find no individual effects of active participation, but very strong effects at the aggregate level. Regions with high social capital are characterized by broad participation patterns and visible, politically active organizations. Based on these findings, we put forward an alternative account of how organizations create and sustain social capital. Strong and visible voluntary organizations demonstrate the utility and rationality of collective action and provide individuals with a democratic infrastructure. We support this by showing that a positive perception of the democratic value of organizations is strongly related to trust, while personal, time-intensive involvement has no explanatory power. © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010.