1.
Introduction
The concept of social capital has recently come to be used to explain myriad ails and
wonders in society; among these political participation. The focus of much of the
recent research on political and civic engagement in the United States has been on
the apparent decline of participation in the post-war era (Paxton 1999, Putnam 2000).
Discussions of low and declining levels political participation in America are not new.
Lately however, the issue has been increasingly coupled with discussions about lower
levels of social capital and civic engagement in general, with a steady stream of journal
articles, books and media coverage following Robert Putnam’s lead (1995a, 1995b,
2000). The reported decline of social capital in America has received much attention
from a wide spectrum of scholars who argue that it has serious implications for
areas as diverse as crime and neighborhood safety (Glaeser, Sacerdote & Scheinkman
1995, Putnam 2000), health (Kawachi, Kennedy & Glass 1999, Veenstra 2001), the
economy (Fukuyama 1995, Knack & Keefer 1999), trust in government and other
institutions (Keele 2004, Porta, de Silanes, Shleifer & Vishny 2000) and government
responsiveness (Knack 2002, Putnam 1993).
When it comes to political participation, there are two streams of argument
from the social capitalists. One line of research suggests that the attitudinal as-
pects of social capital are important factors in explaining why some people take
part in politics and others do not. Activity in voluntary (non-political) associations
infuses members with attitudes and values such as norms of reciprocity and trust
(Putnam 2000, Stolle 1999). These, it is said, are precisely the attitudes necessary
for political participation. A second argument concentrates more on the effects of net-
works on recruiting individuals into political participation. That is, being involved
in all manner of non-political groups makes it more likely that a person will be asked
to get involved in a political cause. Verba, Schlozman & Brady have further argued
that the skills and resources required for political participation are gained through
2
Convention