Corruption and Social Trust: Why the Fish Rots from the Head Down

With the publication of Robert Putnam's 'modern classic' Making Democracy Work in 1993 and his subsequent book, Bowling Alone, in 2000, the issue of social capital has become a huge research industry. Defined as a combination of interpersonal generalized trust and networks based on re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social research Vol. 80; no. 4; pp. 1009 - 1032
Main Author: Rothstein, Bo
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New York New School for Social Research 01.12.2013
Johns Hopkins University Press
Subjects:
Ackerman, Susan
Business
Civil society
Collaboration
Cooperation
Corruption
Cultural Capital
Democracy
Economic models
Empirical Methods
Fairness
Fish
Fishing
Government corruption
Political corruption
Political Science
Procedural justice
Putnam, Robert D
Rational choice theory
Reciprocity
Research methodology
Scandinavia
Social Capital
Social Networks
Social research
Social sciences
Social surveys
Society
Statsvetenskap
Trust
New York
Sweden
United Kingdom > UK
Norway
United States > US
ISSN:0037-783X, 1944-768X, 1944-768X
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:With the publication of Robert Putnam's 'modern classic' Making Democracy Work in 1993 and his subsequent book, Bowling Alone, in 2000, the issue of social capital has become a huge research industry. Defined as a combination of interpersonal generalized trust and networks based on reciprocity, social capital is seen as a major asset for individuals as well as groups and societies. Although, as he readily admits, Putnam was not the first to put forward the importance of social capital, it was clearly he who showed how it could be used in important (and very ingeniously designed) empirical research (1993). However, when the social capital and social trust research agenda went comparative, it came as a surprise to many that when this concept was being empirically researched, the Nordic countries came out on top irrespective of what measures were being used. Much can be said about the Nordic countries, but not that they are countries with small and noninterventionist governments. Adapted from the source document.
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ISSN:0037-783X
1944-768X
1944-768X
DOI:10.1353/sor.2013.0040