Associations, networks and civic virtues: The condition of non-governmental organisations in rural Poland vis-a-vis Paweł Starosta’s reflections on social capital

Abstract

In the work of Prof. Paweł Starosta, issues related to social capital have not only been discussed frequently but their various dimensions have also been dealt with. Social capital-related considerations, according to the authors of this article originally include the following issues: (i) a recognition of the predominance of associative functions of social capital over those that are of a generative nature, (ii) the attribution of particular importance to networks of cooperation, knowledge exchange and the benefits derived from individuals’ abilities to situate themselves in these networks; and (iii) the cardinal importance of the “institutional encasing” of social capital givenits quality and the specific quality of the social capital of the Polish Third Sector as the “capital of local leaders”. The aforesaid perception of social capital was the frame of reference for us to analyse the material collected for their research on the condition of the Third Sector in rural Poland. Starosta’s reflections on social capital were highly useful in considering the specific features of “civic rurality” in Poland: the advantages and disadvantages of leadership social capital, the paucity of network links in the third sector in the rural areas of the country and finally, the discordance between a high sense of agency, on the one hand, and disillusionment emerging from the unfavourable environment concerning social activism in local communities, on the other.