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Social Capital: A Cradle For Democracy or a Resource for Autocracy? A normative analysis on the role of Social Capital and its relation to Civil Society in democratization

Gezelius, Malin LU (2010) STVK01 20102
Department of Political Science
Abstract
Social capital is a concept that has gained widespread use and recognition in many academic disciplines. This interest stems from an idea that the social capital produced in the organisations and associations of civil society can be beneficial in the creation and furthering of democratic processes and economic development among many other things. Using normative methods of consequentiality I will examine different theories on the role of social capital and its relation to civil society and democratization in order to be able to make a normative judgment. With the help of various examples I will argue for a neutral original view of the concept and it’s various parts to be able to show that there exists possible “good” and “bad” aspects of... (More)
Social capital is a concept that has gained widespread use and recognition in many academic disciplines. This interest stems from an idea that the social capital produced in the organisations and associations of civil society can be beneficial in the creation and furthering of democratic processes and economic development among many other things. Using normative methods of consequentiality I will examine different theories on the role of social capital and its relation to civil society and democratization in order to be able to make a normative judgment. With the help of various examples I will argue for a neutral original view of the concept and it’s various parts to be able to show that there exists possible “good” and “bad” aspects of social capital. This judgment will show that the social capital produced in civil society organisations is not always desirable, and that the nature of social capital in turn be either a cradle for democracy or a resource for autocracy, depending on the wider context of the society in question. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Gezelius, Malin LU
supervisor
organization
course
STVK01 20102
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Normative, Trust, Civil Society, Social Capital, Democratization
language
English
id
1758284
date added to LUP
2011-02-10 15:38:28
date last changed
2011-02-10 15:38:28
@misc{1758284,
  abstract     = {{Social capital is a concept that has gained widespread use and recognition in many academic disciplines. This interest stems from an idea that the social capital produced in the organisations and associations of civil society can be beneficial in the creation and furthering of democratic processes and economic development among many other things. Using normative methods of consequentiality I will examine different theories on the role of social capital and its relation to civil society and democratization in order to be able to make a normative judgment. With the help of various examples I will argue for a neutral original view of the concept and it’s various parts to be able to show that there exists possible “good” and “bad” aspects of social capital. This judgment will show that the social capital produced in civil society organisations is not always desirable, and that the nature of social capital in turn be either a cradle for democracy or a resource for autocracy, depending on the wider context of the society in question.}},
  author       = {{Gezelius, Malin}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Social Capital: A Cradle For Democracy or a Resource for Autocracy? A normative analysis on the role of Social Capital and its relation to Civil Society in democratization}},
  year         = {{2010}},
}