Lars Torpe

Social Capital in Denmark: A Deviant Case?

If social capital is important for democratic governance, then it is important how social capital develops. In this article the development of social capital in Denmark is studied on four dimensions: civic norms, social trust, civic involvement and social networks. In contrast to Robert Putnams findings for the US, no evidence is found of a general weakening of social capital in Denmark. The findings are surprising, because Denmark faces some of the same tendencies that according to Putnam lie behind the decline of social capital in the US. The last section therefore discusses various institutional aspects that may help explain the difference. It is argued that the welfare state facilitates the production of social capital, partly by supporting civil society infrastructure, partly by the very structure of its institutions.

Digital communication between local authorities and citizens in Denmark

Today options for digital communication exist in all Danish municipalities. But are local councils aware of the democratic potentials of the new forms of political communication? This article focuses on the democratic dimensions of web design. To what extent do the websites improve access to information on public affairs and stimulate participation of citizens in local politics? To answer these questions, a screening of all 275 Danish municipal websites was carried out on two dimensions: information/transparency and contact/dialogue. The findings show great variation between best and worst practice in terms of democracy. Furthermore, the findings show that size and income per inhabitant explain some of the variation, whereas the political colour of the party in office has no significance.

Scope and Trends of Volunteering and Associations

This chapter has two themes: (1) the scope of formal and informal volunteering and of nonprofit, voluntary, membership associations (MAs) in the world, by which we mean the quantitative magnitudes of these phenomena at or near the present time, and (2) the long-term and recent (past few decades) trends in these magnitudes. Global data are used, when available, but we also report data for world regions and for specific nations when feasible. Besides such data, we also report on estimated magnitudes of association wealth and income, the economic value of volunteering, internal structures and processes of associations, participation rates in associations, and issues regarding computer mapping of data such as that presented in this chapter. Usable knowledge, future trends, and needed research are discussed.

Prevalence Rates of Associations across Territories

This chapter reviews research on incidence–prevalence–exit (demise) rates of membership associations (MAs) across sets of geographic territories of varying scope, with a main focus on explaining MA prevalence rates (frequencies of associations in a territory). Basic changes in the economic structure/system of societies explain the four, global, associational revolutions in human history over the past 10 millennia (Smith 2016b). The determinants of prevalence vary across levels of analysis, but sheer population size is always a major determinant of greater absolute MA prevalence. Other important influences on MA prevalence at the level of nations include gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, average level of formal education, extent of civil liberties, government expenditures per capita, MA density in prior time period, prevalence of association-support infrastructure organizations, and experience with democracy (Schofer and Longhofer 2011; Smith and Shen 2002).

Corporatism and Social Trust: Bringing Voluntary Organizations ‘Back In’

Abstract In analyses of the sources of social trust, it has been found that voluntary organizations have no effect upon it. Such analyses have overlooked the role of civil society organizations as intermediary structures between the citizen and the state. This article explores how organizations, linked together in corporatist networks, help generate trust. Two mechanisms for this are pointed out. First, in societies with strong corporatist networks conflicts between employers and employees are perceived as less strong than in societies with weak corporatist networks. Second, as societies with strong corporatist networks also are more egalitarian, conflicts between rich and poor are also perceived as less pronounced than in societies with weak corporatist networks. This analysis provides definite indications that the perception of conflicts between workers and managers, and the perception of conflicts between rich and poor are intermediary variables between corporatism and social trust, and thus supports the hypothesis that voluntary organizations, through corporatist networks of negotiation and coordination, contribute to the growth of social trust.