SOC101Y1 Lecture : Political Sociology
Document Summary
Putnam s thesis about declining social capital: civic participation. Critique of putnam, including comparative research using time diary data: review of next week s test. Civic involvement , including vas, considered crucial foe the health of democracy: maintain democratic values, protects civil liberties, helps meet needs of disadvantaged groups. Concern that participation has declined in recent decades. Accurate understanding of trends in va involvement is thus important. Voluntary associations over time: robert putnam and his critics. Most research on usa only, relying on general social survey (gss: differences in conclusions have resulted from differences in methods. Most influential is putnam: argues that va participation in us has declined, sees this as part of a decline in social capital and civic participation generally. Paxton (1999), on the other hand, argues that participation has been relatively stable. Others suggest that participation decreased for a period but then increased. Patterns of stability: possible theoretical explanations: economic development and modernization.
