Joint facilities and the creation of social capital in the Swedish countryside

• In this paper we suggest that joint facilities are an important but often neglected part in the process of creating local social capital in the Swedish countryside. Generally, countryside households are property owners and thus also engaged in some management association for joint facilities. To some extent, the associations hence have a similar function as a very small municipality although with only one or a narrow set of tasks. The possibility to negotiate in case of conflicting interest is more limited, a fact that is often a source of "irritation" in the associations. Instead the social control of utilisation, the possibility for close interaction, and the simplicity in information sharing give the small unit an advantage compared with a municipality. In  this respect, the associations has more resemblances to ordinary private self-managed clubs or cooperatives, even if membership is not personal but linked with entry and exit from a specific set of propety market.We observe that management of such facilities is a part of a learning process related to institutional culture, conflict resolution, and a common management for creation of built assets. The associations create and maintain tangible but equally important asset in the form of social capital. The associations for management of joint facilities may thus be part of of a policy for wealth creation and diversity in tjhe provision of local public andclub goods in the countryside.We also observe that when social capital in esrtimations of local growth is instrumentalised by memberships in choirs, sport associations, local folklore societies etc., it may be the case that membership in joint facilities, often an omitted variable, play an equally important role for the local growth through their role as arenas for collective action, learmning and conflict resolution.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Nationalekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Club Theory

Joint Facility

Social Capital

Countryside

Commons

Unplanned areas

Economics

Nationalekonomi

Economics

nationalekonomi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

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