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Generating Social Capital

This section deals with social capital's production and accumulation processes. There is some disagreement in the debate on the sources of social capital. Part of the literature emphasizes the role of civil society, with a particular focus on voluntary organizations. These studies are grouped in the section on Civil society, social capital and well-being, which brings together different points of view, particularly on the role of political institutions. An alternative view emphasizes the importance of social and economic inequalities in fostering the diffusion of mistrust. Some of the contributions belonging to this field focus on the role of the welfare state, for its ability to reduce inequalities promoting wealth redistribution and fostering the opportunities of social mobility.
These studies are grouped, together with those ones emphasizing the importance of political institutions, in the section devoted to The role of the state in Social capital's production. The separation between studies concerning civil society and those ones on public institutions is due mainly to classification needs, rather than on the conviction that these two sources of social capital are alternative.
The recent debate on the importance of society's homogeneity has been stimulated by the more and more consistent migratory flows. Some relevant contributions on these topics are collected in The challenges of ethnicity section.

• Civil society, social capital and well-being

• The role of the state in social capital's production

• The challenges of ethnicity

The section is under construction: suggestions and comments are always most welcome.

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