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The concepts of social capital and postmaterialist values both have respectable genealogies in the social sciences. They are often seen to covary in particular ways, but these relationships are generally considered spurious, attributable to various intervening or antecedent variables. This paper seeks to specify an independent and direct relationship between generalized trust (akin to "bridging" social capital) and postmaterialism on the one hand, and particularized trust (akin to "bonding" social capital) and materialism on the other. In order to test these claims and properly control for rival hypotheses, a hierarchical generalized linear model is employed using data from the fourth wave of the World Values Survey (released May 2004). The data provide strong support for both posited relationships. In light of these results, opportunities for future research are enumerated and discussed. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study finds causations between the micro level of individuals' social capital and the macro level of politics, correlations among different tiers of social capital, and combined effects of social capital elements at the macro political life. ..PAT.-Conference Proceeding [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]