When Social Capital Becomes Political Capital: Understanding the Social Contexts of Minority Candidates' Electoral Success in the American States

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-29
Author(s):  
Kenicia Wright ◽  
Ling Zhu
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Political Capital ◽  
Electoral Rules ◽  
Electoral Success ◽  
Disadvantaged Groups ◽  
The Social

Abstract Political scientists have long been interested in studying the elective office-holding of disadvantaged groups. However, this line of research primarily focuses on the representation of ethnic minorities in the U.S. Congress and identifies three types of determinants of minority candidates' electoral success: the demographic and political make-up of constituents, candidates' personal traits, and macro-level electoral rules. Much less attention is given to minority candidates' electoral success in statehouses. In this paper, we ask: what factors promote the electoral success of minority candidates in state legislatures? Beyond voter characteristics and electoral rules, we attribute minority candidates' electoral success to the social capital possessed by their in-group constituents. We theorize that social capital manifested as civic engagement and social connectedness, can become political capital for minority candidates. Using the Current Population Surveys Civic Engagement Supplement, we validate state-level measures of social capital by race and ethnicity. Linking group social capital to state legislative election outcomes, we find the stock of minority social capital contributes to the electoral success of minority candidates, while white social capital decreases minority candidates' electoral success. Key findings suggest social capital is a form of political capital for disadvantaged groups with private benefits for in-group candidates.

Robert D. Putnam,

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melissa J. Marschall
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Labor Market ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Sense Of Community ◽  
Economic Performance ◽  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Labor Market Outcomes ◽  
Market Outcomes ◽  
Theoretical Contribution ◽  
Neighborhood Organization

This chapter discusses Robert Putnam’s 2000 book,Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community, in which he documents the decline in civic engagement, social connectedness and social capital, and sense of community among Americans. Putnam illustrates the devastating effects of these trends for America and Americans by focusing on five “illustrative” fields: child welfare and education, public safety and neighborhood organization, labor- market outcomes and economic performance, health and happiness, and democracy and democracy values. The chapter explains what social capital is and how it works before concluding with an assessment of several areas where scholars have fruitfully engaged or challenged Putnam’s theoretical contribution.

scholarly journals Social values and civic behaviour among youth in Ireland: The influence of social contexts

2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-64
Author(s):  
Charlotte Silke ◽  
Bernadine Brady ◽  
Pat Dolan ◽  
Ciara Boylan
Keyword(s):  
Young People ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Social Responsibility ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Western World ◽  
Social Environments ◽  
Youth Civic Engagement ◽  
Civic Attitudes ◽  
Civic Values ◽  
The Social

As youth civic engagement is widely considered important for social cohesion and democracy, concerns have been expressed regarding a perceived decline in civic and political engagement among young people throughout the western world. While research has shown that the social environment is influential in terms of the development of civic values, knowledge and behaviours among youth, limited research has been conducted on these issues in an Irish context. Drawing on survey research conducted with 167 young people aged 12–15 years in Irish secondary schools, this paper examines young people's civic attitudes and behaviours and how they are linked to their social contexts. Findings indicate that youth report high levels of social responsibility values but low engagement in both online and offline civic engagement. Furthermore, while parent, peer, school and/or community contexts were found to have a significant influence on youths' social responsibility values and offline civic behaviours, youth's online civic behaviours were not connected to these social environments. This study provides insights into the socialisation of civic values and behaviours among young people in Ireland and highlights the importance of investigating the link between the social context and different forms of youth civic involvement.

Ways of Being: Identity and Hollywood Animation

2021 ◽  
pp. 109-143
Author(s):  
Noel Brown
Keyword(s):  
Social Desirability ◽  
Race And Ethnicity ◽  
Group Identity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Capital ◽  
The Social ◽  
Animated Films ◽  
Ways Of Being

This chapter examines how contemporary animated films have negotiated changes in attitudes towards individual and group identity, particularly (though not exclusively) in relation to gender, sexuality, race and ethnicity. One of the central projects of post-1990s Hollywood animation is that of accommodating difference. This is partly a matter of commercial pragmatism: films must address a pluralistic, global audience to remain profitable, and therefore must be able to reconcile a multitude of different interests, backgrounds and perspectives. However, it also responds to current debates regarding the social desirability, and the political capital, of diversity in its many forms. This chapter is concerned not only with how different kinds of identity are represented in contemporary animation, but also how valorisations of difference are reconciled with the utopianism traditionally embodied by the Hollywood family film.

scholarly journals Social Capital and Educational Aspiration of Students: Does Family Social Capital Affect More Compared to School Social Capital?

2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (12) ◽  
pp. 255 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. M. Shahidul ◽  
A. H. M. Zehadul Karim ◽  
S. Mustari
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Effect Size ◽  
Economic Status ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Educational Aspiration ◽  
Educational Plan ◽  
Family Social Capital ◽  
The Social ◽  
School Social Capital ◽  
Level Of Aspiration

<p class="apa">Resources from multiple social contexts influence students’ educational aspiration. In the field of social capital a neglected issue is how students obtain social capital from varying contexts and which contexts benefit them more to shape their future educational plan which consequently affects their level of aspiration. In this study, we aim to examine whether the students’ social capital, which is created by their families, has an extensive effect in shaping their educational aspiration compared to the social capital which is created in schools. We use the information collected from 553 students, their parents and 225 teachers from 12 selected secondary schools in Bangladesh. We conduct a series of multiple linear regression analyses to estimate the influence of family social capital and school social capital on the dependent variable of educational aspiration. To compare the effect size of family social capital and school social capital we consider the standardized Beta (β) weights of these two variables. The results show that beyond the socio-economic status, both family social capital and school social capital positively affect students’ educational aspiration. In addition, when we compare the effect size of these two variables, results show that family social capital has more strength compared to school social capital to predict the educational aspiration outcome of students.</p>

scholarly journals Civic engagement and social capital in ship-preservation work in Norway: The scope, impact, and demographics of formal volunteering and publicly funded engagements

2014 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ursula S. Goth ◽  
Erik Småland
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Civic Engagement ◽  
Group Dynamics ◽  
Public Funding ◽  
Primary Objective ◽  
Political Aspect ◽  
Telephone Interviews ◽  
Qualitative Survey ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Impact

Introduction: The current focus on volunteering related to civic engagement in Norway has led to a rise in complementary private initiatives and public funding, specifically with regard to the preservation of historic ships. Volunteers for this programme are primarily men aged over 50 years who spend significant amounts of leisure time in municipalities along the coast, fjords, and lakes of Norway. Despite the historical significance of this kind of volunteering, the social capital that is gained and the substantial funding that the Directorate for Cultural Heritage provides, no study has mapped the impact or outcome of these efforts over the past 20 years. Objective: The primary objective has been to study the scope of formal voluntary ship-preservation work in Norway. This article aims to map the volunteers in associations in this programme, the breadth of their efforts, and their motivations. Design: All ships (n = 90) that were funded by the Directorate in 2009 were included in the case study. A qualitative survey of telephone interviews with 82 key informants (100% response rate) was conducted, and questionnaires were mailed to gather descriptive statistics. Results: Age, gender and a robust relationship with the region and the specific ships appear to be relevant to voluntary ship preservation activities. The reasons for commitment and effort were companionship, unity, and memories of and relationship to the specific ships. The strong socio-political aspect of the volunteers’ efforts was reflected in an aggregate of approximately 5.5 million euros in unpaid work. Conclusion: Volunteering in this context is an important component of social capital among elderly men in Norway. The group dynamics and strong collective aspect of these voluntary associations maintain internal cohesion and the members only leave when forced by increasing age, poor health, or insufficient financial resources.

Untangling Social and Political Capital in Latin American Democracies

2012 ◽  
Vol 54 (03) ◽  
pp. 33-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
John A. Booth ◽  
Patricia Bayer Richard
Keyword(s):  
Social Capital ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Latin American ◽  
Political System ◽  
System Level ◽  
Political Capital ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Robert Putnam ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
The Social

AbstractRobert Putnam extolled the virtue of social capital by arguing that social networks, civil society, and trust contribute to democracy. Subsequent research, however, identified a weakness in the social capital “model” in its underspecification of the mechanisms by which social capital affects political systems. This article proposes the concept of political capital as a likely product of social capital that links civil society participants to the political system. The article tests this two-stage model of social capital and political capital and their effects on democratization using survey data from eight Latin American nations. Results find that civil society engagement in 2004 affected political capital variables, which, in turn, had positive effects on system-level democracy measures in 2010. The article thus shows that political capital serves as an intervening variable between social capital and democracy and democratization.

Re-Increased Male Suicide Rates in the Recovery Phase Following the Great East Japan Earthquake

Crisis ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (6) ◽  
pp. 422-428 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masatsugu Orui
Keyword(s):  
Social Connectedness ◽  
Recovery Phase ◽  
Great East Japan Earthquake ◽  
Temporary Housing ◽  
Period Analysis ◽  
Suicide Rates ◽  
Male Suicide ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Difference

Abstract. Background: Monitoring of suicide rates in the recovery phase following a devastating disaster has been limited. Aim: We report on a 7-year follow-up of the suicide rates in the area affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred in March 2011. Method: This descriptive study covered the period from March 2009 to February 2018. Period analysis was used to divide the 108-month study period into nine segments, in which suicide rates were compared with national averages using Poisson distribution. Results: Male suicide rates in the affected area from March 2013 to February 2014 increased to a level higher than the national average. After subsequently dropping, the male rates from March 2016 to February 2018 re-increased and showed a greater difference compared with the national averages. The difference became significant in the period from March 2017 to February 2018 ( p = .047). Limitations: Specific reasons for increasing the rates in the recovery phase were not determined. Conclusion: The termination of the provision of free temporary housing might be influential in this context. Provision of temporary housing was terminated from 2016, which increased economic hardship among needy evacuees. Furthermore, disruption of the social connectedness in the temporary housing may have had an influence. Our findings suggest the necessity of suicide rate monitoring even in the recovery phase.

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