Social Capital

Social Capital Working Group

Pro-social Strategies for Public Welfare: The Role of Social Capital and Trust

As members of the IIPPE social capital working group, we propose a panel on “Pro-social Strategies for Public Welfare: The Role of Social Capital and Trust”. In the past decades, state and market institutions have failed to deliver redistribution and welfare in both developing and high-income geopolitical contexts, particularly after the global economic crisis broke out. This induced agents to engage in short-term, self-oriented strategies either to consolidate their power or salvage a subsistence level of living, which impedes collective action for social reform and the promotion of long-term public benefits. Nonetheless, and in response to deeper recession, social upheaval and political instability, there are collective efforts for social awareness and mobilisation to confront immediate problems of destitution and to reclaim people’s right to a quality of life.

In this sense, this panel aims to open a constructive discussion on the role of social capital and trust in building pro-social strategies for public welfare. We ask how norms and networks of cooperation, reciprocity and trust could facilitate – or hinder – a wider range of pro-social strategies, which could include, but are not limited to:

active social and political participation to deal with the democratic deficit of both the developed and developing world;
assessing events of corruption associated not only with the effects and motives of rent-seeking behaviour and tax evasion, but also with the imperspicuous transactions of powerful economic and political groups;
advocacy and redistributive functions of non-governmental organisations and voluntary associations that represent disadvantaged groups and fight for their needs and rights;
activities of social enterprises and cooperatives that provide alternative ways of production, based on general-interest objectives and innovative forms of democratic participation of stakeholders, workers and investors.

We welcome works that derive from various social science disciplines and use different units of analysis (individual, regional, country or cross-country level), methodologies and techniques (theoretical, empirical, qualitative and quantitative).

Panel: Pro-social Strategies for Public Welfare: The Role of Social Capital and Trust I

Session 1 — Track 5 — Room 4.42 — 10:30-12:30

Babina Kharel, Role of Social Capital in Community Forests Governance in Nepal
Abstract Full Paper

Elena Pisani, Trust in the LEADER Approach: The Case Study of the Veneto Region in Italy
Abstract Full Paper

Te-Yung Chang, The Development of Community Universities in Taiwan and Their Roles in Social Capital Accumulation
Abstract Full Paper

Alexander Lascaux, Trust and Control in the Informal Money Transfer Systems
Abstract Full Paper

Panel: Pro-social Strategies for Public Welfare: The Role of Social Capital and Trust II

Session 2 — Track 5 — Room 4.42 — 13:30-15:30

Anna Almakaeva, Eduard Ponarin, Christian Welzel, Human Empowerment and Paradoxes of Trust: A Multi-level Analysis
Abstract Full Paper

Yusuf Abdulazeez, What do Social Capital and Trust Tell Us About January 2012 Occupy Nigeria Protest for Public Welfare?
Abstract Full Paper

Fani Dima, Civil Society in Greece after 1974 and its Relation to Social Enterprise Development
Abstract Full Paper

Panel: Pro-social Strategies for Public Welfare: The Role of Social Capital and Trust III (Social Capital WG)

Session 3 — Track 5 — Room 4.42 — 15:45-17:15

Giuseppina Guagnano, Elisabetta Santarelli, and Isabella Santini, The determinants of subjective poverty in Europe: the role of household socioeconomic characteristics and social capital and the implications for public policies

Abstract Full Paper

Maria Lissowska, Social Trust in Times of Crisis: How Does Poverty Modify Convergence?
Abstract Full Paper

Eleonora Lollo, Mapping Embeddedness: A Multidimensional Index of Social Capital Using the Indonesia Family Life Survey
Abstract Full Paper

Ioanna Boulouta, The Role of Public Trust in Building Corporate Strategies Which Deliver Value for Both Business and Society
Abstract Full Paper

Panel: Pro-social Strategies for Public Welfare: The Role of Social Capital and Trust IV

Session 10— Track 9 — Room 2.01 — 14:15-16:15

Luca Andriani and Fabio Sabatini, Institutional Trust and Pro-Social Behaviour in a State Capacity Building Process