SOCIAL CAPITAL IN CIVIC AND STRESSFUL SOCIETIES

This article examines social capital with particular reference to soci eties where distrust of institutions has been the norm. The first sect ion describes alternative relationships between individuals and instit utions in civil and uncivil societies. The second makes clear the impo rtant distinction between social network capital and organizational ca pital. The former can be used to achieve freedom from the state; the l atter implies a trustworthy state. The third section presents empirica l survey data from the New Democracies Barometer in nine post-Communis t societies; the data measure trust, scepticism and distrust in fiftee n institutions. The following sections use multivariate analysis to ac count for differences in individual levels of trust, and discuss the i mplications for theories of civic democracy.