Examining the link between measures of social capital and democracy

dc.contributor.authorJooste, Tracy
dc.date.accessioned2016-04-26T13:18:32Z
dc.date.available2016-04-26T13:18:32Z
dc.date.issued2005
dc.date.updated2016-04-26T13:17:23Z
dc.description.abstractDominant political theory suggests that social capital is an important prerequisite for sustaining democracy and upholding the civic culture in society. This paper examines the link between facets of social capital and outcomes usually associated with democracy, namely tolerance of diversity, civic commitment and political participation, using data on the South African city of Cape Town from the exploratory 2003 Cape Area Study. A descriptive analysis of respondents' views on tolerance, civic commitment and political participation is followed by the explanatory analysis of the relationship between facets of social capital and these variables. General interpersonal trust and associational activism are both low in Cape Town, but these variables do not explain the positive attitudes towards diversity observed.? While generalised trust is a weak predictor of civic commitment, associational activism is a positive and statistically significant predictor hereof. Social capital does little to explain levels of individual political participation. Thus, despite the fact that generalised trust and associational activism are both low in Cape Town, these variables do not suffice to explain the apathetic levels of political participation observed. The findings suggest that the relationship between social capital and democracy is varied and inconsistent, with some facets of social capital playing a more important role than others in determining democratic outcomes.en_ZA
dc.identifier.apacitationJooste, T. (2005). <i>Examining the link between measures of social capital and democracy</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19238en_ZA
dc.identifier.chicagocitationJooste, Tracy <i>Examining the link between measures of social capital and democracy.</i> University of Cape Town ,Faculty of Humanities ,Centre for Social Science Research(CSSR), 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19238en_ZA
dc.identifier.citationJooste, T. (2005). Examining the link between measures of social capital and democracy. Centre for Social Science Research: University of Cape Town.en_ZA
dc.identifier.ris TY - Working Paper AU - Jooste, Tracy AB - Dominant political theory suggests that social capital is an important prerequisite for sustaining democracy and upholding the civic culture in society. This paper examines the link between facets of social capital and outcomes usually associated with democracy, namely tolerance of diversity, civic commitment and political participation, using data on the South African city of Cape Town from the exploratory 2003 Cape Area Study. A descriptive analysis of respondents' views on tolerance, civic commitment and political participation is followed by the explanatory analysis of the relationship between facets of social capital and these variables. General interpersonal trust and associational activism are both low in Cape Town, but these variables do not explain the positive attitudes towards diversity observed.? While generalised trust is a weak predictor of civic commitment, associational activism is a positive and statistically significant predictor hereof. Social capital does little to explain levels of individual political participation. Thus, despite the fact that generalised trust and associational activism are both low in Cape Town, these variables do not suffice to explain the apathetic levels of political participation observed. The findings suggest that the relationship between social capital and democracy is varied and inconsistent, with some facets of social capital playing a more important role than others in determining democratic outcomes. DA - 2005 DB - OpenUCT DP - University of Cape Town LK - https://open.uct.ac.za PB - University of Cape Town PY - 2005 T1 - Examining the link between measures of social capital and democracy TI - Examining the link between measures of social capital and democracy UR - http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19238 ER - en_ZA
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11427/19238
dc.identifier.vancouvercitationJooste T. Examining the link between measures of social capital and democracy. 2005 [cited yyyy month dd]. Available from: http://hdl.handle.net/11427/19238en_ZA
dc.languageengen_ZA
dc.publisher.departmentCentre for Social Science Research(CSSR)en_ZA
dc.publisher.facultyFaculty of Humanitiesen_ZA
dc.publisher.institutionUniversity of Cape Town
dc.rightsCreative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
dc.rights.urihttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
dc.titleExamining the link between measures of social capital and democracyen_ZA
dc.typeWorking Paperen_ZA
uct.type.filetypeText
uct.type.filetypeImage
uct.type.publicationResearchen_ZA
uct.type.resourceResearch paperen_ZA
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