Social Capital in the Social Democratic Welfare State

Abstract

The strength of the Swedish Social Democracy implies that Sweden is a critical case for theory about social capital. First, what is the relation between the encompassing welfare programs and social capital? Second, what is the effect on civil society of the neo-corporatist relations between the government and major interest organizations? Using both archival and survey data, the result is that the sharp decline in social capital since the 1950s in the United States has no equivalence in Sweden. This has to do with the specific way in which social programs have been institutionalized. Social capital may be caused by how government institutions operate and not by voluntary associations.