Costa, D., Kahn, M. (2003). Understanding the American Decline in Social Capital, 1952-1998. Kyklos 56 (1), 17-46.
We evaluate U.S. trends in social capital since 1952 and assess explanations for the observed declines. We examine both social capital centered in the community and in the home and argue that the decline in social capital has been over-stated. Declines in social capital centered in the home have been more pronounced among women relative to men, contemporaneous with the rise in women’s labor force participation rates. Rising community heterogeneity (particularly income inequality) explains the fall in social capital produced outside the home.