Folkbildningen och det sociala kapitalet

• This article investigates how bridging social capital can be created in the study associations’ activities. It is specifically bridging social capital that has positive effects on society because it boosts economic activity and shapes general trust. The study is built on interviews with study associations’ representatives and a developed conceptual model of bonding and bridging social capital where these categories are placed in two different dimensions. In the strongest definition of bonding social capital we find groups that are homogenous and who knows each other well. In the corresponding definition of bridging social capital we find groups that are heterogeneous and that know each other less well. A hybrid between these two can be groups that are homogenous, but know each other less well. A conclusion from the interview is that the study associations’ activities exist in all of these definitions. However, the creation of homogenous groups takes place more or less “natural”. The creation of heterogeneous groups, on the other hand, needs a force or a decision from the outside. Here the study association can play a major role.

Keyword

bonding social capital

bridging social capital

folkbildning

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)