Sociaal kapitaal in Vlaanderen: verenigingen en democratische politieke cultuur

Couverture
Amsterdam University Press, 2003 - 240 pages
Verenigingen leveren een belangrijke bijdrage aan het sociaal kapitaal binnen een samenleving, zo blijkt uit internationaal onderzoek. Ze verbinden mensen met elkaar en met de publieke zaak, ze bieden een dam tegen individualisering en ze zorgen voor de verspreiding van democratische waarden.
In Sociaal kapitaal in Vlaanderen gaat politicoloog en socioloog Marc Hooghe na hoe we dit effect van verenigingen kunnen verklaren. Zijn stelling luidt dat verenigingen bepaalde waarden cultiveren en versterken: niet alle verenigingen dragen dus automatisch bij tot de vorming van een democratische politieke cultuur, maar enkel die verenigingen waarbinnen die waarden ook de nodige aandacht krijgen. Hooghe ondersteunt zijn stelling met materiaal van een unieke bevolkingsonderzoek uit Vlaanderen, maar zijn onderzoek, dat verder bouwt op het werk van de Amerikaanse politicoloog Robert Putnam, richt zich tot een internationaal publiek. Verenigingen zijn geen wondermiddel tegen individualisering en onverdraagzaamheid, maar ze kunnen wel een bescheiden steentje bijdragen.

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Page 47 - Whereas physical capital refers to physical objects and human capital refers to properties of individuals, social capital refers to connections among individuals — social networks and the norms of reciprocity and trustworthiness that arise from them.
Page 188 - The first is, that the rights and interests of every or any person are only secure from being disregarded when the person interested is himself able, and habitually disposed, to stand up for them. The second is, that the general prosperity attains a greater height, and is more widely diffused, in proportion to the amount and variety of the personal energies enlisted in promoting it.
Page 28 - Voluntary associations are the prime means by which the function of mediating between the individual and the state is performed. Through them the individual is able to relate himself effectively and meaningfully to the political system.
Page 27 - But one aspect of this new world political culture is discernible: it will be a political culture of participation. If there is a political revolution going on throughout the world, it is what might be called the participation explosion. In all the new nations of the world the belief that the ordinary man is politically relevant — that he ought to be an involved participant in the political system — is widespread.
Page 28 - The maintenance of these more traditional attitudes and their fusion with the participant orientations lead to a balanced political culture in which political activity, involvement, and rationality exist but are balanced by passivity, traditionality, and commitment to parochial values.
Page 199 - The individual possesses a self only in relation to the selves of the other members of his social group; and the structure of his self expresses or reflects the general behavior pattern of this social group to which he belongs, just as does the structure of the self of every other individual belonging to this social group.
Page 15 - Wherever the sphere of action of human beings is artificially circumscribed, their sentiments are narrowed and dwarfed in the same proportion. The food of feeling is action; even domestic affection lives upon voluntary good offices. Let a person have nothing to do for his country, and he will not care for it.
Page 29 - Membership in some association, even if the individual does not consider the membership politically relevant and even if it does not involve his active participation, does lead to a more competent citizenry. Pluralism, even if not explicitly political pluralism, may indeed be one of the most important foundations of political democracy
Page 47 - Dans les pays démocratiques , la science de l'association est la science mère ; le progrès de toutes les autres dépend des progrès de celle-là.
Page 29 - What we have shown so far is that voluntary associations do play a major role in a democratic political culture. The organizational member, compared with the nonmember, is likely to consider himself more competent as a citizen, to be a more active participant in politics, and to know and care more about politics. He is, therefore, more likely to be close to the model of the democratic citizen. We have also shown that it makes a difference which type of organization an individual belongs to; political...

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