Individual Social Capital and Community Participation: An Empirical Analysis of Guangzhou, China

Abstract

A social capital framework has been widely adopted to interpret participatory behaviors. While there is substantial literature regarding the effects of community-based social capital on grassroots participation, less attention has been paid to the relationship between different sources of social capital and community participation. This is particularly relevant for understanding community development undergone restructuring of individual social capital, such as China. To address this deficiency in the literature, this paper integrates both individual and social capital that is accessed within and outside a community to analyze their relation to different forms of community participation. Multilevel analysis is based on a large-scale community survey conducted in Guangzhou at the end of 2012. The results reveal a shift in social relations such that personal social resources are now mainly accessed outside the community. They further reveal that social resources outside communities are consistently and significantly related to all forms of participation. This implies that although residents’ personal networks have gradually diffused out of their communities, this has not only not reduced their enthusiasm toward the communities themselves but also facilitated participation in community affairs.