This study presents results of analysis of social capital dynamics in Poland. The research is based on the 1992-2002 Polish General Social Survey. Thanks to the extensive array of issues covered by PGSS data, diverse complementary aspects of social capital were included. The methodology applied in the study encompasses principal components technique, Euclidean distance calculation and one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA). As authors are concerned with both quantitative and qualitative changes of social capital we include broad range of variables. Analysis of social capital refers to some groups of variables assigned to four areas: horizontal association, social integration, civil and political liberty, legal and governance aspects. This research shows that social capital has not been eroding during the Polish transition process. Between 1992 and 2002, all-but one social capital indicators were slowly, albeit consistently increasing. The most impressive rise was observed under "Trust to the media", "Trust to public safety and security services", "Trust to public service suppliers" and "Trust to trade unions". This research also did not support either the common view about citizens’ diminishing interest in politics, which authors found to be steady.
Social Capital - Trust - Poland - Eastern Europe
Przemyslaw Gadomski is a Ph.D. candidate at the Department of Economics of Warsaw University, Poland. His MA dissertation on “Justice as a Tool for Economic Analysis” received the first prize in 2003 Witold Kula Competition in economic history and theory of economics. He has been a member of the advisory team to the President of the Republic of Poland for education and information and communication technologies since 2001. His research interest focuses on sociological aspects of the Polish economic transition, interdisciplinary methodology of social sciences and humanities and role of information and communication technologies in the economic growth.
Anna Gabryjelska received her MA in Economics from the University of Lodz where she is currently a PhD candidate and a researcher. She took part in the Socrates-Erasmus program visiting Faculty of Economics at University of Ratisbon in 1998-1999, and conducted a series of research projects for the Institute of Economics of Polish Academy of Sciences in 2000-2001. She is a former advisor to the Polish Minister of Finance (2000-2001). Her research interest revolves around macroeconomic policy, economic growth and macro identification of human capital.
Author Name (Year), “Title”, in: The International Scope Review, Volume Number, Issue Number, TSCF Editions, Brussels.
This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the Second International Conference of The Social Capital Foundation, Buggiba, Republic of Malta, 20-23 September 2005.
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