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The Covid-19 pandemic has created a widespread need for social support. Similar to previous crises, we can observe activation in society to meet these needs: citizens have offered practical, emotional, and financial support, often within their social networks, but also to strangers and civil society organizations. In this paper, we examine the role of social capital in receiving social support during the Covid-19 pandemic in Germany using unique micro-level survey data. We investigate the importance of three aspects of social capital – the size of one's support network, social trust, and organizational membership – for receiving (sufficient) social support. We focus on three types of support networks: family and friends, neighbors, and civil society actors. First, we find that while all three elements of social capital matter for receiving social support, a larger support network and organizational embeddedness matter primarily for receiving support beyond family and friendship networks. Second, civil society actors have been less likely to provide sufficient support in the pandemic, mainly acting in addition to strong ties and providing complementary support for individuals in particular need. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In post-conflict and segregated societies, overcoming high prejudice between groups is essential for peaceful coexistence. In this paper, we explore the roles of direct contact (face-to-face contact and cross-group friendship) and indirect contact (extended cross-group friendship) in reducing prejudice between Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots living in Cyprus. Moreover, this study further explores whether the effects of direct and indirect contact vary between Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots, as well as across a ten-year period. To explore these issues, we analyze data from different representative samples of Greek Cypriots and Turkish Cypriots at two different time points (years 2007 and 2017). The results suggest that all three forms of contact have significant effects on prejudice. However, they also exhibit some variations by community (but not year of data collection) in the effects of direct (but not indirect) contact on prejudice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses how to explain the rise of a new nationalism in Europe. It begins by problematizing the inconsistencies in the current culturalist, socio-economic, and socio-political approaches. It then makes Pierre Bourdieu's theory of social space fruitful for a sociological explanation of neonationalism by removing it from the conceptional framework of national container societies. It finally shows that the transnational opening of national societies is accompanied by profound processes of symbolic appreciation and depreciation of economic, cultural, and social 'capital' that the inhabitants of the national container possess. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we theoretically and empirically explore the question whether the unequal distribution of different aspects of social capital (networks, trust, norms) over a number of social dimensions (gender, age, income, employment status, and educational level) is smaller in countries with more developed welfare systems. Our data cover 13 Western industrialized countries and two periods in time (1981, 1999). The paper adds to the existing literature in several ways: by focusing explicitly on the empirical study of social capital inequality, by relating this subject to (quantitative and qualitative) welfare state characteristics, and by studying it from a cross-national and longitudinal perspective. We find that in the sample of countries analyzed there is no clear relationship between social capital inequality and welfare state characteristics. However, whether generally welfare states do not reduce social capital inequalities remains an issue for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A recurring assumption is that undeclared work is market-like and motivated by monetary gain and thus that participants make a rational economic decision to engage in such an enterprise. In consequence, the predominant public policy response has been to seek to deter this work by ensuring that the expected cost of being caught and punished is greater than the economic benefit of participating. Here, however, and drawing upon evidence from 861 face-to-face interviews conducted in England, an alternative reading of undeclared work is presented more appreciative of the heterogeneous work relations and motives involved and its variable meanings. This identifies how although some undeclared work is market-like and conducted for monetary gain, there is also undeclared work conducted under social relations and for motives more akin to unpaid mutual aid. The paper then explores the various policy options that could be adopted and their implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the use of the concept of social capital in neighbourhood renewal programmes which aim to influence social and health-related processes. Based on a social network analysis of 17 groups comprising 133 members, qualitative interviews were conducted with 22 participants to consider the kinds of patterns and connections that build up in a neighbourhood renewal project in a small, deprived neighbourhood of a provincial town in Denmark. Results show that outcomes of community participation depend on the kind of social capital generated and on who is excluded from these resources or capital. Problems hindering inclusive participatory processes include self-exclusion and exclusionary dynamics in the neighbourhood. These dynamics centre on power struggles that lead the least powerful to opt out. Thus, the Danish ‘Ghetto Strategy’, which aims to increase local community participation and volunteering, could have the unintended consequence of increasing social and health inequalities rather than reducing them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Associations are likely to recruit resource rich individuals and they are places where individuals interact, and thus, are likely to exchange social resources. The paper asks which kinds of associations embed individuals holding many social resources. According to theoretical considerations, I distinguish between bridging and bonding associations. Bridging associations are likely to embed heterogeneous individuals while bonding associations embed homogeneous individuals. Therefore, the range of social resources available inside associations may be higher in bridging than in bonding associations. Thinking about the resource exchanging environment inside the associations, a further distinction of bonding associations seems reasonable: some aim at political goals outside the group (e.g., trade unions or professional organizations) and others focus on developing a nice atmosphere inside the group (apolitical bonding associations like elderly leisure associations). I analyze data from Eurobarometer 62.2 using multilevel analyses. Descriptive analyses indicate that active individuals have access to more social resources than inactive individuals. This relation varies for apolitical and political bonding associations according to the European countries. The multilevel analyses controlling for individual characteristics and country variables indicate that potential resources accessible to individuals active in associations depend on the focus of the associations. While bridging and apolitical bonding associations embed individuals accessing more social resources than non-active individuals, political bonding associations are not likely to embed resource rich individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The reaction of citizens deeply disappointed with their government and its decisions differs from country to country, and in some cases, such as Latvia during the recent economic crisis, has been surprisingly passive. In this paper I argue that political passivity can be partly explained by psychological mechanisms triggered by constant under-performance and unresponsiveness of political authorities. Using International Social Survey Program 2006–2007 data, I construct a structural equation model which shows that government's performance can facilitate or hinder the development of civil society through its impact on (1) a sense of political efficacy, (2) political competence, and (3) interpersonal trust. Poor institutional performance and the following loss of trust in political authorities has a negative effect on people's perceptions of politics, of themselves and of each other, discouraging further engagement in all kinds of political activities. Considering the importance of civic participation for the quality of governance this creates a vicious circle which might not be easy to break. Finally, several theoretical perspectives are discussed that help to explain the formation and persistence of the vicious circle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous research indicates that social relationships can influence the probability of successfully finding a first job. This paper contributes to this field of research by empirically analysing the rarely studied question, if social networks can help adolescents find an apprenticeship in the strongly company-based vocational training system of Germany. In contrast to most previous studies, not only the youth's networks, but also their mothers' networks are taken into account. In addition to the social, the ethnic composition of the networks is also considered. Event data analyses of German panel data on natives and migrants from the project ‘Young Immigrants in the German and Israeli Educational System’ show that adolescents' networks have no effect on the success of an apprenticeship search. In contrast, the mothers' networks play a crucial role. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to understand the way in which social capital resources are incorporated, appropriated and distributed by different social classes in Europe. Its main goal is to produce a conceptual framework by linking the concepts of social capital with the different theoretical assessments made by the sociology of social classes. We use multivariate analysis to work a set of quantitative indicators from the European Social Survey 2008 in order to assess the relationship between these concepts. Our methodological approach combines transnational levels, i.e., it is not an international comparison between European countries but an analysis of individual people and their belonging to social classes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the current literature there is emerging consensus about a positive correlation between countries' welfare efforts and the social capital of their inhabitants: the larger the welfare state, the more social capital its inhabitants have. This paper pulls the discussion an important step further by asking what mechanisms can be responsible for this correlation. Based on theory and previous findings, we formulate a conceptual model of how the macro–micro relationship could come about. The hypotheses are tested using Eurobarometer data. While most of the mechanisms hypothesised are also found empirically, a substantial part of the direct macro-to-micro effect remains after controlling for the presumed most important intervening factors. Our conclusion is that the relationship is still not well understood and needs more academic attention in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies the role of social capital in the status attainment process and examines the link between the hiring process and the potential pool of social capital embedded in a person's network. The analysis is based on a sample of people newly employed by the municipal services in Malmö, the third largest city in Sweden. Jobs in this sector of labour market are mainly low-paid, and are dominated by women and immigrants. The position generator method is used to measure social capital, understood as assets captured by individuals in social networks. The findings demonstrate that access to social capital is positively related to work experience, a higher educational level, having a partner, and active membership of voluntary associations. It is also apparent that being an immigrant is associated with a substantial social capital deficit. Regarding the return on capital, the results show that both human capital and social capital were rewarded with higher wages and more adequate jobs. Furthermore, we found that social capital is associated with better labour market outcomes, whether or not respondents reported that they obtained their current jobs using informal job-search methods. Results also show similar returns on access to social capital for natives and immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contributing to research on civil society elites in the EU context, this article focuses on the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC). It explores who the main actors are, what roles they play, and what resources they use, value, and compete for in this arena. The theoretical starting points are grounded in Bourdieu's notions of field and capital and a Goffmanesque approach to drama. Based on semi-structured interviews with EESC members and administrators, observations at EESC meetings, and document analysis, the study explores the types of capital linked to different actors and roles, stages, and scripts in the EESC field. The most valued capital across EESC stages are social capital in the form of personal networks, and cultural capital in the form of negotiation skills and issue-specific knowledge. Actors are supposed to follow a script of being pro-European, representing organised civil society in Europe, and aiming at consensus. Being active at the EESC stages, at least in leading roles, gives actors a kind of EESC-specific capital in the form of access to influential EU decision-makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did the economic crisis impact social capital in European societies? The empirical studies conducted so far provide contradictory conclusions about the strength and direction of its influence. We argue that to better understand the effects of the economic crisis on social capital (social trust, formal and informal networks) it is crucial to examine both its impact on people's economic situation and the way it reshaped the relationship between individuals and political institutions and altered key political factors (political trust, the welfare state, political activism). Our analysis of European Social Survey data between 2006 and 2012 shows that changes in social trust were smaller than in formal and informal social networks. It also confirms that political factors played an important mediating role in producing these changes: changes in social trust and formal networks can especially be explained by the impact of the political factors, while variations in informal networks are mainly due to the changing economy. Moreover, the analyses show that while the economic crisis generally lowered social capital, some mechanisms such as a sense of togetherness and left-wing political activism, enhanced social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is ample evidence that immigrants are at a disadvantage in the labour market. Previous studies show that discrimination and devaluation are important factors in explaining why immigrants are occupationally segregated. Three kinds of discriminatory behaviours can be distinguished: aversions, cognitive biases, and erroneous attributions. The present article is part of the debate on the mechanisms that generate inequality and argues that the attitudinal context (social norm) influences labour market outcomes by moderating the impact of these three discriminatory behaviours. This idea is empirically examined in an analysis of the role of openness towards immigrants on the immigrant-native occupational status gap and in the comparative advantage of their language skills. Data from the Adult Education Survey is modelled together with contextual data from the European Social Survey using country fixed-effects regressions. The results indicate that immigrants are at a disadvantage, although the extent of this disadvantage varies significantly among countries partly due to the influence of openness towards immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the aim of studying the role of contextual factors for explaining within-country variation in the vote share of the radical right-wing party, the Sweden Democrats, in the 2014 Swedish election, we specify and test hypotheses pertaining to social marginality, ethnic threat, the contact hypothesis, and the halo effect. We study the variation in the electoral share of the Sweden Democrats at two different levels simultaneously by performing multilevel analyses to account for the ways in which voting districts are clustered within municipalities. The main finding from our analyses is the support for the ethnic threat hypothesis, where the vote share of the Sweden Democrats is significantly higher in those areas that have seen an increase in the foreign-born population, and to some extent also in ethnically diverse areas, contradicting previous research on ethnic minority presence in fine-grained contexts. The expectation that the vote share for the Sweden Democrats should be higher in socioeconomic marginalized districts is partly supported, but we find no evidence of a halo effect, where ethnically homogeneous areas that are geographically close to heterogeneous districts were expected to have a higher vote share for the Sweden Democrats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article demonstrates how Pierre Bourdieu’s concept of social space and Michèle Lamont’s concept of symbolic boundaries can be fruitfully combined in cultural-stratification research. Focusing on the case of Stavanger, Norway, the analysis also shows how Multiple Correspondence Analysis is compatible with other research techniques, such as qualitative in-depth interviews. The approach adopted provides a practical application of Bourdieu’s double reading of social relations. It combines the first, objective moment of situating 46 individuals subjected to qualitative interviews in the local social space (i.e. a system of relations between individuals’ possessions of cultural and economic capital) with the second, subjective moment of mapping the interviewees’ evaluations and classifications of other people’s lifestyles. It is shown how intertwinements of various discursive repertoires of evaluation (cultural-aesthetical, moral-political and socio-economic) work in both contradictive and reinforcing ways to construct symbolic boundaries between classes and class fractions. The findings draw attention to both the capital volume and the capital composition dimensions of social space in that symbolic boundary drawing takes on different forms along these dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on European business elites has been dominated by a ‘national career model’ approach, arguing that each country has a specific top management career pattern. In recent years, this line of argument has been challenged due to the increasing international circulation of top managers. To examine the impact of internationalisation on career models, we will draw on a database of 916 top managers in Germany, Switzerland, France and Britain. Our field-analytical analysis reveals that the most important career distinction - between internal and external careers - is valid beyond national models. In addition, international managers do not constitute a separate homogenous group: in some countries, they imitate national career patterns; in others, they pursue complementary strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate the correlation between institutions of economic freedom and generalized trust. The data we use are derived from the Eurobarometer surveys and measure how trustworthy nationals of a particular country are in the eyes of nationals of other countries. By using these data we avoid the presence of double causality between institutions of economic freedom and generalized trust that has been recognized as a major challenge in the literature. Indeed, external perceptions of trustworthiness are exogenous to the internal institutional building process. We find that during the 1980s and 1990s a 10% increase in the Economic Freedom of the World Index was associated with a 2.5% increase in generalized trust in the countries in our sample. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Social capital theory expects volunteering to generate general social trust, while critics point out that there is little evidence to support this claim. The purpose of this article is to show that volunteering can cause trust, depending on the institutional context and the types of organizations for which people volunteer. The data are from representative population surveys conducted in Norway and the Czech Republic in 2009. The analysis shows that in institutional contexts with impartial and reliable institutions, as in the case of Norway, general social trust is very high in comparative perspective, and the experience of volunteering has little additional effect. However, volunteering boosts institutional trust because volunteers get in touch with a political and administrative system that supports and interacts with the voluntary sector. This applies particularly to voluntary organizations in culture, sports, and recreation. In contrast, in an institutional context with elements of clientelism and corruption, as in the case of the Czech Republic, there is no positive effect on institutional trust. However, the level of general social trust is low and the collaborative experience of volunteering can generate social trust. This applies particularly to voluntary organizations that are not associated with the established political culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the relationship between welfare state institutions and informal voluntary activity. In particular, we wish to investigate the extent to which welfare state arrangements influence the individual's decision to volunteer informally. Focusing on informal volunteering - a vital, yet often neglected form of social capital - we reinvestigate the hypotheses on crowding in and crowding out. Our sub-national multilevel analysis of the Swiss cantons reveals that there is no significant effect of welfare statism on informal volunteering. Cantonal differences in individual propensity to volunteer informally can rather be attributed to different cultural-linguistic backgrounds as well as to the cantonal degree of urbanisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We study the relationship between two distinct dimensions of social capital (bridging and bonding social capital) and the personal performances of individuals: their reported subjective well-being (SWB) and earnings. A theoretical model is put forward which explains the sources and dynamics of social capital formation. It predicts an inverse U-shaped relationship between any type of social capital and SWB, an inverse U-shaped relationship between bridging social capital and earnings, and an unambiguously negative impact of bonding social capital on earnings. The key predictions of the model are confirmed using cross-section survey data from the 2005 wave of the 'Social Diagnosis' survey program conducted in Poland. Very low levels of bridging social capital observed in Poland imply that it is unambiguously beneficial to invest in it: both SWB of individuals and their earnings would increase in such case. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital has been recognized as one of the most influential concepts in social and political sciences. It is assumed that it has significant influence on several issues such as health status, educational achievement and environmental attitudes. In the present article we attempt to investigate the influence of social capital on the tendency of European citizens to contribute money for the environment using data from EVS 1999/2000. Firstly, an estimation of individual social capital is calculated for European citizens with the use of Confirmatory Factor Analysis. Secondly, the relation between individual social capital and willingness to pay (WTP) is examined. Thirdly, further evidence is provided by introducing in the analysis the influence of other factors such as income, age, gender and educational level. In addition, the influence of contextual factors on WTP is explored. Through the results of the study it is observed that most European citizens are willing to pay for the environment and their decision is influenced significantly from elements of social capital. Furthermore, on a contextual level only some of the factors investigated explain the tendency to contribute money for the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the application of Bourdieu's ideas of culture and cultural capital to a specific city located in Southeastern Turkey, this article identifies the forms of cultural capital, including education and consumption, that became important in class formation since the end of the nineteenth century. The article identifies changes in the historical forms which symbolic and cultural capital have taken. In this city, as non-Western pre-capitalist culture was abandoned, partly due to forced modernization, previous patterns of hierarchies that generated the social groups/relations began to transform. While a nuanced set of practices were distinguishing features of social life, the whole set of practices of generosity, kindness or politeness was filtered through the prism of paternalist domination. From the end of the nineteenth century onwards, however, a symbolic struggle involved questions of taste and culture. Drawing on the struggle between the 'old' and 'new' wealth, this article scrutinises the role of cultural capital in class formation from a historical perspective in relation to family, embodiment and education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article addresses why the literature on Inequality of Educational Opportunity (IEO) reaches diverging results concerning the decline or persistency of IEO over time. The main argument in this article is that the diverging results may be caused by the fact that the social class variables used to capture trends in IEO act as proxies for unobserved family-background influences that are substantively different from social class. The article analyses extremely rich longitudinal data from Denmark spanning three generations within the same family lineage. It demonstrates, first, that the effect of social class on secondary schooling is overstated when other family influences, conceptualised as economic, cultural and social capital, and unobserved family influences are not taken into consideration, and second, as in the other Scandinavian countries, that IEO has declined significantly in the postwar period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research about fertility has focused in the main on studying separately the influence of communication networks and social capital on reproductive behavior, but it has rarely tried to integrate both network properties theoretically or analytically. We therefore discuss a general model of purposeful behavior that perceives individuals' subjective perceptions of the utilities of different courses of action to be affected by structures of interpersonal influence. Resources needed to realize desired goals are furthermore shaped by exchange relationships that build social capital. These considerations are empirically applied to explanations of the intentions of 758 Polish men and women ever to have a first, second, or third child. Personal networks are especially relevant for the considerations to have a first or second child. The intentions of childless respondents are positively influenced by network partners who are at a similar stage of their reproductive biographies or who have already taken the step of having a first child. However, respondents with one child have a higher probability of intending to have a second child the more they have access to fertility-related social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth labour markets where informal recruitment practices predominate are likely to amplify existing inequalities among young job seekers. Whereas most literature on informal recruitment focuses on characteristics of individual job seekers and the nature of the jobs they obtain, this article suggests to relate this important issue to overarching dynamics of welfare and labour market institutions. Analyses of survey data among young people with a history of longer-term unemployment in eight European countries suggest that comprehensive welfare state arrangements may substitute for the importance of personal network resources in the job search process. Thus the welfare state may intervene by providing active measures to facilitate the job-matching process and by providing economic means to make young people less dependent on their social network. The level of youth unemployment also seems to be related to the extent of informal recruitment, which is found to be more widespread in the countries with high rates of youth unemployment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article we examine the occurrence of social capital in 21 different countries. Our study starts from the premise that the countries under scrutiny represent different kinds of welfare state regimes. The concept of social capital we separate here into bonding social capital, bridging social capital, generalized trust and informal support. Our main question is whether or not social capital varies systematically between different welfare state regimes. In this respect, our aim is to put to the test two opposite assumptions: the society-centred hypothesis that assumes that strong welfare states may weaken the preconditions in which social capital emerges and the institution-centred hypothesis that assumes that social capital emerges expressly in societies with strong welfare state institutions. Although mainly confirming the latter assumption, our research findings also emphasize the fact that the different forms of social capital are connected to welfare state regimes in different ways. On the basis of our results, it is possible that the welfare state both prevents and promotes the development of social capital, depending on the respective meanings given to social capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article identifies six main theories of the determinants of social trust, and tests them against survey data from seven societies, 1999-2001. Three of the six theories of trust fare rather poorly and three do better. First and foremost, social trust tends to be high among citizens who believe that there are few severe social conflicts and where the sense of public safety is high. Second, informal social networks are associated with trust. And third, those who are successful in life trust more, or are more inclined by their personal experience to do so. Individual theories seem to work best in societies with higher levels of trust, and societal ones in societies with lower levels of trust. This may have something to do with the fact that our two low trust societies, Hungary and Slovenia, happen to have experienced revolutionary change in the very recent past, so that societal events have overwhelmed individual circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]