Speaking Acquaintances or Helpers in Need: Participation in Civic Associations and Individual Social Capital
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RESEARCH PAPERS
Speaking Acquaintances or Helpers in Need: Participation in Civic Associations and Individual Social Capital Michael Mutz1
. Ulrike Burrmann2 . Sebastian Braun3
Accepted: 2 September 2020 © The Author(s) 2020
Abstract It is widely believed that civic associations are capable to produce social capital, here understood as an individual asset resulting from relations of mutual support and assistance. Although hardly anybody denies that socializing is widespread in many civic associations, it still remains to be shown that this socializing provides a genuine commitment to support. This paper explores the relationship between involvement in civic organizations and social support. The data analysed come from a nationwide survey “Organized Sport and Social Capital—Revisited” (OSSCAR) representing the adult population in Germany. Findings show that participation in civic associations is associated with higher levels of social support. This effect is stronger for active participants and weaker for passive members. Path analyses further indicate that this effect is mediated by a person’s sociability orientations as well as her commitment to prosocial values. These findings help providing a more nuanced understanding of
Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11266-020-00274-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. & Michael Mutz [email protected] Ulrike Burrmann [email protected] Sebastian Braun [email protected] 1
Department of Psychology and Sport Science, Justus-LiebigUniversita¨t Giessen, Giessen, Germany
2
Department of Sport Science, Humboldt-Universita¨t zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
3
Department of Sport Science, Humboldt-Universita¨t zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany
mechanisms of associations.
social
capital
formation
in
civic
Keywords Social capital · · Social connectedness · · Social support · · Civic associations · · Civil society
Civic Associations as Producers of Individual Social Capital Much scholarly work has addressed voluntary associations’ capabilities to generate, amplify and preserve social capital (e.g. Levi 1996; Newton 2001; Portes 1998; Putnam 1993, 2000; Smith and Kulyniych 2002; Stolle 1998; Wollebӕk and Selle 2007; Zimmer and Freise 2008). Some of these studies conceive social capital as a collective good, which unfolds its potentials at the group level, i.e. in communities, regions or nations, while other scholars regard social capital as an individual asset, having its roots in a person’s social network (e.g. Bourdieu 1986; Burt 2000; Granovetter 1983; Lin 2001). In the latter perspective, taken up in this paper, social capital connotes the idea that social integration comes with individual benefits. Clubs and associations in the realm of the civil society— for instance, sport clubs, singing groups, political parties, citizen’s initiatives or welfare associations—can thus be conceived as social networks and membership in such associations can broaden and
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