Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-22dnz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T04:41:11.724Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Checking trust: observing social capital at the individual level

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 August 2020

Vasabjit Banerjee  and
Carolyn E. Holmes
Vasabjit Banerjee
Affiliation:
Mississippi State University, Mississippi, USA
Carolyn E. Holmes*
Affiliation:
University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa
*
Email: Ceh679@msstate.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Social capital research has measured the concept in two distinct ways: through direct reporting by participants in cross-national surveys and the presence of associative organisations. Both strategies raise difficulties: the former restricts comparability and assumes group stability; the latter relies on literal translation and uses direct questioning. We problematise these approaches and argue that the ratio of ‘check-points’ where individuals are asked to demonstrate adherence to rules, and ‘trust-points’ where such proofs are not required, can better measure social capital. Moreover, the unevenness of social capital between groups is perceptible by ‘fast-lanes’ that differentially treat individuals based on identity. Evidence from a field survey and observational evidence in South Africa is presented.

Keywords

Social capitalqualitative methodsSouth Africaraceinequality
Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Modern African Studies , Volume 58 , Issue 2 , June 2020 , pp. 213 - 234
Check for updates
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Adam, F. 2008. ‘Mapping social capital across Europe: findings, trends and methodological shortcomings of cross-national surveys’, Social Science Information 47: 159–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adida, C.L., Ferree, K.E., Posner, D.N. & Robinson, A.L.. 2016. ‘Who's asking? Interviewer coethnicity effects in African survey data’, Comparative Political Studies 49: 1630–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Briggs, X. de S. 1998. Brown kids in white suburbs: Housing mobility and the many faces of social capital. Housing Policy Debate 9: 177–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Coleman, J.S. 1988. ‘Social capital in the creation of human capital’, American Journal of Sociology 94, S95–120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, K.S. & Hardin, R.. 2005. ‘Norms of cooperativeness and networks of trust’, in Hechter, M. & Opp, K.-D., eds. Social Norms. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation, pp. 327–47.Google Scholar
Deloitte. 2014. Reading the Global Payments Radar: scanning for opportunities and potential threats in the payments market. New York, NY: Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.Google Scholar
Ferragina, E. 2013. ‘The socio-economic determinants of social capital and the mediating effect of history: Making Democracy Work revisited’, International Journal of Comparative Sociology 54: 48–73.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freitag, M. & Bauer, P.C.. 2013. ‘Testing for measurement equivalence in surveys: dimensions of social trust across cultural contexts’, Public Opinion Quarterly 77, 24–44.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freitag, M. & Traunmüller, R.. 2009. ‘Spheres of trust: an empirical analysis of the foundations of particularised and generalised trust’, European Journal of Political Research 48: 782–803.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gacitua-Mario, E. & Wodon, Q.. 2002. ‘Measurement and meaning.’ World Bank Technical Papers No. 518. Washington, DC: The World Bank.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hardin, R. 2004. Trust and Trustworthiness. New York, NY: Russell Sage Foundation.Google Scholar
Knack, S. 2002. ‘Social capital and the quality of government: evidence from the States’, American Journal of Political Science 46, 772–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsen, L., Harlan, S.L., Bolin, B., Hackett, E.J., Hope, D., Kirby, A., Nelson, A., Rex, T.R. & Wolf, S.. 2004. ‘Bonding and bridging: understanding the relationship between social capital and civic action’, Journal of Planning Education and Research 24, 64–77.Google Scholar
Lin, N. 2000. ‘Inequality in social capital’, Contemporary Sociology 29: 785–95.Google Scholar
Narayan, D. & Cassidy, M.F.. 2001. ‘A dimensional approach to measuring social capital: development and validation of a social capital inventory’, Current Sociology 49: 59–102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newton, K. 2001. ‘Trust, social capital, civil society, and democracy’, International Political Science Review 22: 201–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newton, K. & Zmerli, S.. 2011. ‘Three forms of trust and their association’, European Political Science Review 3: 169–200.Google Scholar
Overseas Security Advisory Council. 2019. South Africa 2019 Crime & Safety Report. Washington, DC: United States Department of State.Google Scholar
Paxton, P. 1999. ‘Is social capital declining in the United States? A multiple indicator assessment’, American Journal of Sociology 105: 88–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pena, M.-V.J. & Lindo-Fuentes, H.. 1998. ‘Community organization, values and social capital in Panama.’ Economic Note No. 17893. Washington, DC: The World Bank.Google Scholar
Portes, A. 1998. ‘Social capital: its origins and applications in modern sociology’, Annual Review of Sociology 24: 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Putnam, R.D. 1994. Making Democracy Work: civic traditions in modern Italy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Putnam, R.D. 2001. Bowling Alone: the collapse and revival of American community. First edition. New York, NY: Touchstone Books, Simon & Schuster.Google Scholar
Putnam, R.D. 2007. ‘E Pluribus Unum: diversity and community in the twenty-first century’, Scandinavian Political Studies 30: 137–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rydin, Y. & Holman, N.. 2004. ‘Re-evaluating the contribution of social capital in achieving sustainable development’, Local Environment 9: 117–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Statistics South Africa. 2015. Victims of Crime Survey 2014/2015. Statistical Release No. P0341. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa.Google Scholar
Stolle, D. 2002. Trusting strangers – the concept of generalized trust in perspective. Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft 31: 397–412.Google Scholar
Sturgis, P. & Smith, P.. 2010. ‘Assessing the validity of generalized trust questions: what kind of trust are we measuring?’, International Journal of Public Opinion Research 22: 74–92.Google Scholar
Torpe, L. & Lolle, H.. 2011. ‘Identifying social trust in cross-country analysis: do we really measure the same?’, Social Indicators Research 103: 481–500.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uslaner, E.M. 2002. The Moral Foundations of Trust. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Uslaner, E.M. 2010. ‘Segregation, mistrust and minorities’, Ethnicities 10: 415–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uslaner, E.M. & Conley, R.S.. 2003. ‘Civic engagement and particularized trust: the ties that bind people to their ethnic communities’, American Politics Research 31: 331–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varshney, A. 2001. ‘Ethnic conflict and civil society: India and beyond’, World Politics 53: 362–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Varshney, A. 2003. ‘Nationalism, ethnic conflict, and rationality’, Perspectives on Politics 1: 85–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar