Home Page > Reading List > The Role of Civil Society

Civil society, social capital and well-being

This section is devoted to the role of civil society in social capital generation mechanisms. Collected studies present different points of view on the role of voluntary associations. Following Putnam's earlier work, many authors view the main source of social capital as residing in the realm of civil society, largely disconnected from the state and political institutions. Alternative views enphasizing the role of the state and of the welfare state are presented in the next section.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Essential Readings

• Bruni, L., Pelligra, V. (2002), Economia come impegno civile, Roma, Città Nuova.

• Evans, P. (1996), Government Action, Social Capital and Development: Reviewing the Evidence on Synergy, World Development, 24(6), 1119-1132.

• Foley, M., Edwards, B. (1998), Beyond Toqueville: Civil Society and Social Capital in Comparative Perspective, American Behavioral Scientist, 42(1), 5-20.

• Hooghe, M., Stolle, D. (eds) (2003), Generating Social Capital: Civil Society and Institutions in Comparative Perspective, New York, Palgrave.

• Portney, K. E., Berry, J.M. (2000), Neighborhoods and civil society, in Hodgkinson, V. (ed), Civil Society in the United States, Civil Society and Governance Programme, IDS.

• Prakash, S., Selle, P. (2004), Comparative Perspectives on Civil Society, Participation and Governance, London, Sage Publications.

• Putnam, R.D. (1993) Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy, Princeton University Press, Princeton, trad. it. La tradizione civica nelle regioni italiane, Mondadori, Milano

• Putnam, R.D. (ed) (2002), Democracies in flux: The Evolution of Social Capital in Contemporary Society, Oxford, Oxford University Press.

• Putnam, R.D., Feldstein, L. (2003), Better Together: Restoring the American Community, New York, Simon & Schuster.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), "Social Capital and the Quality of Economic Development", Kyklos, Vol. 61, Issue 3, 466-499.

• Sabatini, Fabio (2008), "Social Capital as Social Networks: a New Framework for Measurement and an empirical analysis of its determinants and consequences", Journal of Socio-Economics, in press.

• Stolle, D. (2003), The Sources of Social Capital, in Hooghe, M., Stolle, D. (eds) (2003), Generating Social Capital: Civil Society and Institutions in Comparative Perspective, New York, Palgrave.

• Svendsen, G.L.H, Svendsen, G.T. (2005), The Creation and Destruction of Social Capital. Entrepreneurship, Co-operative Movements and Institutions, Cheltenham, UK, Edward Elgar Publishing.

• Uslaner, E. (2002), The Moral Foundations of Trust, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

• Wollebak, D., Selle, P. (2003), The Importance of Passive Membership for Social Capital Formation, in Hooghe, M., Stolle, D. (eds) (2003), Generating Social Capital: Civil Society and Institutions in Comparative Perspective, New York, Palgrave.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------^^^

Further Readings

• Ashman, D., Brown, L.D., Zwick, E. (1998), The strength of strong and weak ties: building social capital for the formation and governance of civil society resource organizations, IDR Reports, Volume 14, Number 2 1998.

• Bacon, D. (2001), Revitalising civil society in Northern Ireland: social capital formation in three faith-based organisations, 7th Researching the Voluntary Sector Conference NCVO Headquarters, London, September 2001 .

• Bekkers, R., Völker, B., van der Gaag, M., Flap, H. (2005), Social networks of participants in voluntary associations, Department of Statistics & Measurement Theory, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, mimeo.

• Christoforou, A. (2004), On the Determinants of Social Capital in Countries of the European Union, Paper prepared for the ESPAnet 2004 Conference, European Social Policy: Meeting the Needs of a New Europe, Oxford, England, September 9th – 11th, 2004.

• Darcy de Oliveira, M. (2000), Citizen Participation and Social Capital Formation. Resource mobilisation for social development: the experience of Comunidade Solidária in Brazil, Paper presented at the Symposium Social Capital Formation in Poverty Reduction: Which Role for the Civil Society Organizations and the State?, 28 June 2000, Geneva, Switzerland.

• Daniszewski, K. (2003), A Dewian Social Capital Development Theory, UCLA Graduate School of Education.

• Diani, M. (2001), Social Capital as Social Movement Outcome, in Edwards, B., Foley, M.W., Diani, M. (eds), Beyond Toqueville, Civil Society and the Social Capital Debate in Comparative Perspective, Hanover and London, University Press of New England.

• Donoghue, F. (2002), Nonprofit Organisations as Builders of Social Capital and Channels of Expression: The Case of Ireland, Paper presented at the ISTR Fifth International Conference "Transforming Civil Society, Citizenship and Governance: The Third Sector in an Era of Global (Dis)Order", University of Cape Town, South Africa, July 7-10, 2002.

• Edwards, B. (2004), Strategy Matters: The Contingent Value of Social Capital in the Survival of Local Social Movement Organizations, Social Forces, Vol. 83, No. 2, December 2004, pp. 621-651.

• Evans, G., Letki, N. (2002), Endogenizing Social Trust: Democratisation in East-Central Europe, Nuffield College Working Papers in Politics, 2002-WP9.

• Ferlander, S. (2003), Internet, Social Capital and Local Community, PhD Dissertation, Centre for Research and Development in Learning Technology, University of Stirling.

• Ferlander, S., Dimm, T. (2001), Local Nets and Social Capital, Telematics and Informatics, 18 (2001), 51-65.

• Fournier, F. (2000), Social Capital Formation in Poverty Reduction: Which Role for Civil Society and the State?, Paper presented at the Symposium Social Capital Formation in Poverty Reduction: Which Role for the Civil Society Organizations and the State?, 28 June 2000, Geneva, Switzerland.

• Fox, J. (1996), How Does Civil Society Thicken? The Political Construction of Social Capital in Rural Mexico, World Development, Vol. 24, No. 6, 1089-1103.

• Greely, A. (2001), Coleman Revisited: Religious Structures as a Source of Social Capital, in Edwards, B., Foley, M.W., Diani, M. (eds), Beyond Toqueville, Civil Society and the Social Capital Debate in Comparative Perspective, Hanover and London, University Press of New England.

• Harriss, J. (2001), Social Capital Construction and the Consolidation of Civil Society, Development Studies Institute, Working Paper N. 01-16, London School of Economics.

• Heller, P. (1997), Social Capital as a Product of Class Mobilization and State Intervention: Industrial Workers in Kerala, India, in Evans, P. (ed), State-Society Synergy: Government and Social Capital in Development, University of California Press.

• Hooghe, M. (2003), Participation in Voluntary Associations and Value Indicators: The Effect of Current and Previous Participation Experiences, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Vol. 32, No. 1, 47-69 (2003).

• Huang, F. (2003), Social Capital, Cooperation, and Human Capital, University of Pensilvanya, Department of Economics, mimeo.

• Jarrett, R.L., Sullivan, P.J., Watkins, N.D. (2005), Developing social capital through participation in organized youth programs: Qualitative insights from three programs, Journal of Community Psychology, Volume 33, Issue 1 , Pages 41 - 55.

• Johnson, C.A. (2000), Social Capital and Conventions: A Social Networks Perspective, Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics, April 14, 2000, Blacksburg, Virginia.

• Johnson, C. (2003), A Model of Social Capital Formation, SRDC Working Paper Series, 03-01, Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.

• Keele, L. (2003), The Macro Mechanics of Social Capital, Oxford University, Department of Politics and International Relations, mimeo.

• Kilby, P. (2002), Social Capital and Civil Society, National Centre for Development Studies, Australian National University.

• Kolodinski, J., Kimberly, G., Isham, J. (2003), The Effects of Volunteering for Non-profit Organizations on Social Capital Formation: Evidence from a Statewide Survey, Middlebury College of Economics Discussion Paper No. 03-05.

• Larance, L.Y. (2001), Fostering social capital through NGO design: Grameen Bank membership in Bangladesh, International Social Work, Vol. 44, No. 1, 7-18 (2001).

• Larance, L.Y., Porter, L.M. (2004), Observations From Practice: Support Group Membership as a Process of Social Capital Formation Among Female Survivors of Domestic Violence, Journal of Interpersonal Violence, June 1, 2004; 19(6): 676 - 690.

• Leigh, A. (2004), Does Equality Lead to Fraternity?, John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, mimeo.

• Leonard, R., Onyx, J. (2004), Social Capital and Community Building: Spinning straw into gold, London, Janus Publications. Click here to read the synopsis of the book.

• Letki, N. (2003), What Makes Citizens Trustworthy? Individual, Community and Structural Determinants of Honesty and Civic Morality, Nuffield College Working Papers in Politics, 2003-WP13.

• Letki, N. (2004), Socialization for Participation? Trust, Membership and Democratization in East-Central Europe, Political Research Quarterly, Vol. 57, No. 4.

• Mayer, M. (2003), The onward sweep of social capital: causes and consequences for understanding cities, communities and urban movements, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, March 2003, vol. 27, no. 1, pp. 110-132(23).

• Mayer, P. (2003), The Wider Economic Value of Social Capital and Volunteering in South Australia, Politics Department, University of Adelaide, South Australia.

• McGrory Klyza, C., Isham, J., Savage, A. (2004), Local Environmental Groups, the Creation of Social Capital, and Environmental Policy: Evidence from Vermont, Middlebury College Working Paper Series No. 0407, Middlebury College, Department of Economics.

• Minkoff, D.C. (2001), Producing Social Capital: National Movements and Civil Society, in Edwards, B., Foley, M.W., Diani, M. (eds), Beyond Toqueville, Civil Society and the Social Capital Debate in Comparative Perspective, Hanover and London, University Press of New England.

• Ogilvie, S. (2004), The Use and Abuse of Trust: Social Capital and its Deployment by Early Modern Guilds, CESifo Working Paper No. 1302, October 2004.

• Posner, D. (2003), Civil Society and the Reconstruction of Failed States, in in Rotberg, R. (ed.), When States Fail: Causes and Consequences, Princeton, Princeton University Press.

• Prouteau, L., Wolff, F.C. (2003), Relational Goods and Associational Participation, Faculté des Sciences Economiques, Université de Nantes, France.

• Prakash, S. (2000), Social Capital and the Rural Poor: What Can Civil Actors and Policies Do?, Paper presented at the Symposium Social Capital Formation in Poverty Reduction: Which Role for the Civil Society Organizations and the State?, 28 June 2000, Geneva, Switzerland.

• Putnam, R.D. (1995), Tuning In, Tuning Out: The Strange Disappearance of Social Capital in America, PS Online: American Political Science Association's Journal of the Profession.

• Renno, L.R. (2000), Microfoundations of Social Capital. Membership to Associations in Latin America, Paper prepared for the 2000 meeting of the Latin American Studies Association, Hyatt Regency Miami, March 16-18, 2000.

• Rothstein, B., Uslaner, E.M. (2005), All for All: Equality and Social Trust, London School of Economics Health and Social Care Discussion Paper Number 15.

• Sabatini, F. (2005), Social Capital, Public Spending and the Quality of Economic Development, University of Rome La Sapienza, Department of Public Economics. Paper accepted for presentation at the COE/JEPA (Center of Excellence / Japan Economic Policy Association) Joint International Conference, "Towards a New Economic Paradigm", Kobe, Japan, 17-18 December 2005.

• Savage A., Isham, J., McGrory Klyza, C. (2005), The Greening of Social Capital: An Examination of Land-Based Groups in Two Vermont Counties, Rural Sociology, January 2005, vol. 70, no. 1, pp. 113-131(19).

• Seligson, A. (1999), Civic Association and Democratic Participation in Central America, Comparative Political Studies 32, 342-362.

• Skocpol, T., Ganz, M., Munson, Z. (2000), A Nation of Organizers: The Institutional Origins of Civic Voluntarism in the United States, American Political Science Review 94(3), 527-546.

• Sonhee, K. (2003), Jeju Island Women Divers' Association in South Korea: A source of social capital, Asian Journal of Womens Studies, Vol. 9, No. 1 pp.37-59.

• Stolle, D., Rochon, T. (1998), Are All Associations Alike? Member Diversity, Associational Type and the Creation of Social Capital, American Behavioral Scientist 42(1), 47-65.

• Svendsen, G.L.H., Svendsen, G.T. (2004): The Creation and Destruction of Social Capital: Entrepreneurship, Co-operative Movements and Institutions, Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, UK. In Press.

• Uslaner, E. (1999), Democracy and Social Capital, in M. Warren, ed., Democracy and Trust, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.

• Weinberg, B. (2004), Commitment and Conflict between Helpers and Recipients in Social Capital Investments, Department of Economics, Ohio State University, Unpublished Paper.

• Wellman, B., Frank, K. (2000), Network Capital in a Multi-Level World: Getting Support from Personal Communities, in Lin, N., Burt, R., Cook, K. (eds), Social Capital: Theory and Research, Chicago. Aldine De Gruyter.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------^^^