This study examines if Facebook, one of the most popular social network sites among college students in the U.S., is related to attitudes and behaviors that enhance individuals' social capital. Using data from a random web survey of college students across Texas (n = 2,603), we find positive relationships between intensity of Facebook use and students' life satisfaction, social trust, civic engagement, and political participation. While these findings should ease the concerns of those who fear that Facebook has mostly negative effects on young adults, the positive and significant associations between Facebook variables and social capital were small, suggesting that online social networks are not the most effective solution for youth disengagement from civic duty and democracy.

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Is There Social Capital in a Social Network Site?: Facebook Use and College Students' Life Satisfaction, Trust, and Participation

Inevitably, reading is one of the requirements to be undergone. To improve the performance and quality, someone needs to have something new every day. It will suggest you to have more inspirations, then. However, the needs of inspirations will make you searching for some sources. Even from the other people experience, internet, and many books. Books and internet are the recommended media to help you improving your quality and performance.

The Logic and Limits of Trust

The Fall of Public Man

To Dwell Among Friends: Personal Networks in Town and City.

The Nature of Prejudice

It is often assumed that the increased use of the new information and communication technology (ICT) can displace traditional face-to-face sociability. At the same time, it has been argued that the new ICT can also strengthen traditional forms of sociability. This article evaluates these opposite views by examining how the frequency of Internet use is connected with two forms of sociability: civic engagement and interpersonal involvement. Empirical interest is narrowed down to four European countries. The data utilized are the Finnish, British, French and Italian sections of the European Social Survey 2002–2003 (N = 6,762). The methods of analysis include cross-tabulations and logistic regression models. The findings indicate that frequent Internet use is positively associated with both forms of sociability in all countries. However, there are also cross-country differences in the strength of these associations and in the effects of sociodemographic control variables. The findings thus suggest that the co...

LINKED OR DIVIDED BY THE WEB?: Internet use and sociability in four European countries

Focusing on 2002–2011, we analyse levels of trust in Greece and compare them with 17 other European countries. During this period, Greece endured a serious economic crisis. Signs of increasing mistrust in all societal institutions became evident and the nation witnessed extreme phenomena, such as violent demonstrations, the surfacing of radical political ideas, parties with nationalistic and racist characteristics, and noncompliance with rules, regulations, and taxes. However, little is known about generalised social trust, i.e. interpersonal trust between individuals, during the crisis. We analyse data from the European Social Survey Rounds 1, 2, 4, and 5 to test whether the crisis affected the levels of various forms of trust among Greeks. In addition to social trust, we distinguish between trust in political institutions (e.g. politicians and the national parliament) and impartial institutions (e.g. the police and legal system). The results reveal that the level of trust people show towards political and impartial institutions decreased substantially in Greece. Surprisingly, however, interpersonal social trust did not collapse; rather, it remained stable or even slightly increased concurrently with the notable decrease in political trust. This suggests that during an economic crisis, people do not deterministically lose their trust in other individuals; instead, in the Greek case they appear to lean on each other when both political and impartial institutions fail. Moreover, it is possible that shared experiences of nearly overwhelming adversities in Greece during the crisis increase a sense of togetherness among individuals, which in turn contributed to the robustness of social trust.

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Social and Institutional Trust in Times of Crisis: Greece, 2002–2011

Perceptions of deservingness are crucial when we attempt to explain public support for welfare policies or try to understand the development of modern welfare states. These perceptions also reveal the status of a particular population group in society and the social cohesion between marginalized groups and the general public. In this article, we are concerned about whether perceptions of the deservingness of social assistance recipients vary between different street-level bureaucrat groups, citizens and those individuals who have received social assistance or whose family members have been recipients of social assistance at some stage of their life. We focus on the nature of the impact of various individual level factors in these perceptions. The studied street-level bureaucrats are social workers in municipalities, deacons of the Church of Finland and benefit officials of the Social Security Institution of Finland. Two nationwide surveys among street-level bureaucrats (N = 2,124) and citizens (N = 1,883) are used. Descriptive statistics and rank ordered logistic regression are utilized. According to the results, street-level bureaucrats and the general public perceive social assistance recipients in quite a positive way. However, there are clear differences between and within these groups. Street-level bureaucrats' attitudes towards social assistance recipients are more positive than those among the public. However, benefit officials have a more critical stance on the deservingness of social assistance recipients than social workers and deacons. Those who have received social assistance are more positive than those who have not had these experiences. Age, education and political identification further explain the attitudes of bureaucrats and citizens.

Street-level Bureaucrats' and the General Public's Deservingness Perceptions of Social Assistance Recipients in Finland

The aim of the article is to analyse the impact of the self-evaluated ethnic composition of the place of residence on interethnic contacts and attitudes through the comparison of four Nordic countries. Data come from the European Social Survey 2002. Compared with ethnically homogeneous neighbourhoods, interethnic relationships are more common in ethnically mixed neighbourhoods with some self-reported ethnic minorities. However, living in an area with many perceived ethnic minorities does not necessarily increase the probability of having interethnic friends in all four countries. As contact theory suggests that, having interethnic friendship ties in combination with living in an ethnically mixed or ethnic neighbourhood is associated with the probability of having more tolerant attitudes towards immigrants in all four countries. Perceived ethnic threat, however, is generally at its lowest level in areas with only some ethnic minorities, which may leave some room for conflict or competition theories as well.

Imagine all the neighbours: Perceived neighbourhood ethnicity, interethnic friendship ties and perceived ethnic threat in four Nordic countries

Besides the exponential growth of written pages on social capital and trust, we have seen a considerable increase in empirical comparative studies on the topic. Despite that, it is not always clear how di erences between individual and aggregate level factors are taken into account when exploring the sources of trust. The purpose of the article is to find out a) what the explanatory power of individual and country level factors is when explaining generalized and institutional trust among the Europeans and b) what the most essential di erences are in the determinants of social capital between di erent types of European welfare states. The data come from the European Social Survey (ESS 2004). Multilevel analyses are accomplished in order to combine di erent levels of data and explanations. The results reveal many similarities but also remarkable di erences in the generation of horizontal and vertical trust between di erent types of welfare states and support hypotheses emphasizing institutional characteristics of the states in the generation of trust.

http://www.finnresearch.fi/rfs_Kouvo_2011_final.pdf

Antti Kouvo

Papers

LINKED OR DIVIDED BY THE WEB?: Internet use and sociability in four European countries

Social and Institutional Trust in Times of Crisis: Greece, 2002–2011

Street-level Bureaucrats' and the General Public's Deservingness Perceptions of Social Assistance Recipients in Finland

Imagine all the neighbours: Perceived neighbourhood ethnicity, interethnic friendship ties and perceived ethnic threat in four Nordic countries

The sources of generalized trust and institutional confidence in Europe