The Creation of Social Trust—the Role of the State

Abstract

There is widespread belief in the literature that the role of the State in the creation and maintenance of social capital has been neglected. The key criticism to the most important study of social capital to date in this field, Robert Putnam’s Making Democracy Work, is that—aside from its historical flaws—it is largely silent on the role of the State (Levi, 1993, 1996a; Tarrow, 1996; Morlino, 1995; Skocpol, 1996; Vallely, 1996; O’Neill, 1996; Berman, 1997). Putnam is not alone in neglecting the role of the State. Scholars working within the social capital paradigm have often assigned the State a negative role in the creation of this form of capital. It is significant that the only reference to the responsibility of the State for the decline of “civic America” is to be found in Putnam’s Bowling Alone, where he argues that the State is one of the primary “suspects” responsible for the decline in social capital (281). Even if the State is finally acquit, it is significant that it was initially thought that “more State could be synonymous with less social capital.” Nonetheless references to the role of the State in undermining social capital are, in fact, more common than statements to the contrary.1