Linkages Between Informal and Formal Social Capital and Their Relations with Forums of Trust. A focus on Romania

Abstract

Firstly, we investigate the structure of social capital based on several indicators selected on the basis of the European Social Survey’s 2006 wave for Romania. Secondly, the role of informal social interaction and some individual-level sociodemographical variables in determining formal, informal and community level volunteering is analyzed. The third part of the analysis investigates the role of these types of social capital in producing various forms of trust. The results of the analyses resulted in two specific variables, for informal and informal social capital: the former consists in variables accounting for informal networking with closer ties, while the latter consists in variables accounting for different kinds of voluntary activities. Regarding the cognitive dimension of social trust, we succeeded to separate specific types of trust. Once controlling for socio-demographics and religiosity, schmoozing exercises significant, positive influence only on formal volunteering. Our results suggest that the profile of those involved in the specific forms of volunteering is quite similar in at least two aspects: it seems that compared to the youngest age category, middle aged individuals are less involved in volunteering; compared to the lower educated respondents those who are medium and upper level educated people are the most involved in each types of volunteering.