Three perspectives on the efficacy of social capital have been explored in the public health literature. A "social support" perspective argues that informal networks are central to objective and subjective welfare; an "inequality" thesis posits that widening economic disparities have eroded citizens' sense of social justice and inclusion, which in turn has led to heightened anxiety and compromised rising life expectancies; a "political economy" approach sees the primary determinant of poor health outcomes as the socially and politically mediated exclusion from material resources. A more comprehensive but grounded theory of social capital is presented that develops a distinction between bonding, bridging, and linking social capital. It is argued that this framework helps to reconcile these three perspectives, incorporating a broader reading of history, politics, and the empirical evidence regarding the mechanisms connecting types of network structure and state-society relations to public health outcomes.

/pdf/health-by-association-social-capital-social-theory-and-the-4jhmcns64n.pdf

Health by association? Social capital, social theory, and the political economy of public health

Health and Wealth: Health by Association? Social Capital, Social Theory, and the Political Economy of Public Health

Drawing on the international literature on migration and immigrant associations, mainly in the context of North and South America, but also including several other global immigration contexts, this essay highlights several main questions and issues. It discusses the definition of voluntary associations and the principal impetus for associational activities among immigrant newcomers. Using examples from specific types of organisation (secret societies, credit associations, mutual benefit societies, religious groups, hometown associations, political groups), it examines the factors that shape immigrants’ formal sociability. The paper then addresses the class and gender composition of memberships, compares the associative practices of the mostly European immigrants of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries with the mostly Asian, Latin American and African arrivals of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, and discusses the issue of state involvement. The essay approaches the topic from a ...

Immigrants and Associations: A Global and Historical Perspective

This article contends that class politics has receded in advanced capitalist societies during the last century, while cultural politics has increased, and it focuses on social and political institutions, rather than on occupational structure, to explain the shift. Participation in solidary groups has consequences for the social bases of politics, and the political salience of such groups is affected by social institutions that are independent of occupational structure. The first such institution is direct rule. Whereas indirect rule tends to promote class politics, direct rule favors cultural politics. Rapid expansion of direct rule since the 1960s has muted class politics and increased cultural politics. This relationship is not deterministic, however; other institutions can mitigate the effects of direct rule on the social bases of politics.

https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/421357

From class to culture

This critique reviews an especially active field of research during the last 20 years in France: the sociology of activism. In this current of sociology, a new interactionist paradigm has emerged that takes into account activists’ careers and the process of becoming an activist. This critique focuses on how the idea of the “rewards” of activism has been reworked. After reviewing theoretical debates about whether or not new forms of activism and new activists are arising, this article points out two issues for current research, both ∗ Auteur correspondant. Adresses e-mail : frederic.sawicki@univ-lille2.fr (F. Sawicki), jsimeant@univ-paris1.fr (J. Simeant). 0038-0296/$ – see front matter © 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. Tous droits reserves. doi:10.1016/j.soctra.2008.12.006 Author's personal copy 98 F. Sawicki, J. Simeant / Sociologie du travail 51 (2009) 97–125 related to the social division of labor, namely: improving our understanding of, on the one hand, the linkage between macrosocial changes and activism and, on the other hand, of the way that organizations shape activism. © 2008 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved. Mots cles : Militantisme ; Engagement ; Division du travail ; Organisations ; Professionnalisation ; Partis politiques ; Mouvements sociaux ; Associations ; France

/pdf/decloisonner-la-sociologie-de-l-engagement-militant-note-3rks96un1q.pdf

Décloisonner la sociologie de l’engagement militant. Note critique sur quelques tendances récentes des travaux français Decompartmentalizing the sociology of activism. A critique of recent tendencies in French studies

Michel Dreyfus

Papers

Social security mutualism : the comparative history of mutual benefit societies

The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions

Les coopérateurs : deux siècles de pratiques coopératives

Histoire de la C.G.T.

La France immigree. Construction d'une politique (1914-1997)