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Associational memberships have become the indicator of choice for examining the formation and destruction of social capital. Memberships in associations are believed to create generalized interpersonal trust, which can be used as a lubricant that makes possible a variety of forms of social interaction and cooperation. Clearly, not all types of associations will be equally effective in their relative capacity to create generalized, or public, social capital. Each indicator of social capital that we examine is positively related to associational membership. However, some association memberships, particularly in cultural groups, are correlated with a wide range of forms of social capital. The diversity of an association also has an effect on the connection between social capital and association memberships. Homogeneous associations are less likely to inculcate high levels of generalized trust and community reciprocity among their members. These results indicate the need for further specification of the social capital theory.

Cover -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- 1 Introduction: Generating Social Capital -- 2 The Sources of Social Capital -- 3 Democracy in France: Do Associations Matter? -- 4 The Importance of Passive Membership for Social Capital Formation -- 5 Voluntary Associations and Democratic Attitudes: Value Congruence as a Causal Mechanism -- 6 Associations or Informal Networks? Social Capital and Local Development Practices -- 7 Rain or Fog? An Empirical Examination of Social Capital's Rainmaker Effects -- 8 A Tale of Two Cities: Local Patterns of Social Capital -- 9 Trust, Democracy and Governance: Can Government Policies Influence Generalized Trust? -- 10 Social Capital, Impartiality and the Welfare State: An Institutional Approach -- 11 Institutions and Their Impact on Social Capital and Civic Culture: The Case of Italy -- 12 Conclusion: The Sources of Social Capital Reconsidered -- About the Authors -- Index -- A -- B -- C -- D -- E -- F -- G -- H -- I -- J -- K -- L -- M -- N -- O -- P -- R -- S -- T -- U -- V -- W.

How do pregnancy and childbirth affect engagement in politics and society? Our data from a large-scale citizen panel record political engagement before, during, and after pregnancy for (future) mothers and fathers. We find that women demobilize from politics and societal issues during pregnancy. This disengagement is strongest for indicators of political participation and seeking of political news. Our analysis also shows that gender gaps in political engagement are not only strengthened but also partly created in the earliest stages of parenthood. Although the effects are relatively minor, they are robust to various analysis techniques. Some effects also last until the child grows older. Pregnancy and childbirth rarely lead to political mobilization, and when they do, they concern child-related activities, such as attempts to change daycare providers, but only at later stages of early parenthood.

AbstractFollowing public debates on the topic of trust in Quebec, this article examines the alleged social capital differential between Quebec and the rest of Canada. The literature has found lower levels of generalized trust in Quebec, but explanations offered are diverse and conjectural, with historical, sociological and political factors all in contention. We test contextual and compositional influences, including cohort differences, language and linguistic ability, religion, ethnicity, and neighbourhood-level measures of diversity, using pooled cross-sectional data from the Canadian General Social Survey (2003, 2008 and 2013) linked with precise measures of neighbourhood-level ethnic and linguistic diversity drawn from the Canadian census. We identify those Quebecers who have low levels of trust and those who more closely resemble their counterparts in the rest of Canada. We find that individual linguistic ability and linguistic heterogeneity of the neighbourhood are important correlates of trust and that among francophone populations, social distrust is found most in unilingual homogenous communities.

Recent research on the consequences of ethnic diversity for social cohesion indicates that the effects of diversity are not necessarily universal. In this article we hypothesise that the rhetoric of political parties conditions whether diversity negatively affects generalised trust. Political campaigns might highlight the salience of cultural diversity issues in their discourse or, moreover, use a divisive rhetoric of 'nationalistic' positions. Thus political mobilisation might heighten the perceived conflict between those who are native born and immigrants, especially in diverse societies. In order to test this argument, we investigate the influence of political rhetoric framed on cultural diversity issues, that is, nationalism and multiculturalism - obtained from the Comparative Manifestos Project- on generalised trust in 21 European democracies. We find that the negative impact of ethnic diversity on trust is particularly strong when these issues are mobilised by political parties. It does not, however, matter whether these issues are presented in a positive or negative light. Adapted from the source document.

The nonverbal display of confidence is strongly associated with leadership and power. However, its importance for the persuasiveness of campaign messages has not been explored. How important is showing confidence for a political candidate's ratings? How does confidence condition the effect of the quality of a candidate's arguments? This article addresses these questions using an innovative experimental approach that makes it possible to better isolate the impact of the candidate's nonverbal confidence and the quality of his message. While both of these aspects influence voters' perceptions of the candidate's electability and qualifications, the nonverbal dimension matters more when it comes to electability. This research contributes to the study of nonverbal communication in elections by expanding the focus of inquiry beyond the effect of pure emotions (happiness or anger) and facial traits. Adapted from the source document.

The nonverbal display of confidence is strongly associated with leadership and power. However, its importance for the persuasiveness of campaign messages has not been explored. How important is showing confidence for a political candidate's ratings? How does confidence condition the effect of the quality of a candidate's arguments? This article addresses these questions using an innovative experimental approach that makes it possible to better isolate the impact of the candidate's nonverbal confidence and the quality of his message. While both of these aspects influence voters' perceptions of the candidate's electability and qualifications, the nonverbal dimension matters more when it comes to electability. This research contributes to the study of nonverbal communication in elections by expanding the focus of inquiry beyond the effect of pure emotions (happiness or anger) and facial traits.

Recent research on the consequences of ethnic diversity for social cohesion indicates that the effects of diversity are not necessarily universal. In this article we hypothesise that the rhetoric of political parties conditions whether diversity negatively affects generalised trust. Political campaigns might highlight the salience of cultural diversity issues in their discourse or, moreover, use a divisive rhetoric of 'nationalistic' positions. Thus political mobilisation might heighten the perceived conflict between those who are native born and immigrants, especially in diverse societies. In order to test this argument, we investigate the influence of political rhetoric framed on cultural diversity issues, that is, nationalism and multiculturalism — obtained from the Comparative Manifestos Project– on generalised trust in 21 European democracies. We find that the negative impact of ethnic diversity on trust is particularly strong when these issues are mobilised by political parties. It does not, however, matter whether these issues are presented in a positive or negative light.