The isolating side effect of civic participation

Abstract

Does widespread civic participation lead to more social capital? We argue that this is not necessarily the case. As more actors join voluntary associations, the pool of social resources available to non-active individuals is diluted, which can make it difficult for them to accrue social capital. We hypothesize that there is an insider/outsider effect, whereby widespread civic participation increases the risk that non-participants will be excluded from communal life. Using survey data from the German Freiwilligensurvey (German Volunteer Survey 1999–2014) and multi-level regressions, we examine the link between regional civic participation and individual social capital. Our findings reveal that civic participation rates on the macro level affect participants’ and non-participants’ friendship and support networks differently. While high macro-level participation is associated with more friendships and a higher expectation of receiving support for participants, it is also associated with fewer friendships and a lower expectation of receiving support for non-participants.