Kapitał społeczny w kontekście różnic międzykulturowych
Social capital in the context of cultural differences

Summary/Abstract: The article discussed the notion of social capital and its relation with the culture of specific country.In the first part of it, the concept of social capital was presented and cultural differences likepower distance, individualism, masculinity or femininity, tolerance to ambiguity, deciding about thelevel of social capital were presented. It includes different approaches to social capital and ways ofunderstanding it, as the network of contacts of separate entities enabling them using different resourcesor as feature of a given community, fostering taking social and individual initiatives. The next part ofelaboration covers short description of cultural differences with an indication of these elements, whichcan differentiate separate countries in terms of the level of social capital. Then research results on theeffect of individualism in the culture of separate states of the USA on social capital were presentedand research results on the relationship between the level of individualism in each country and thelevel of trust were discussed. Then the research results on the effect of culture in twenty six regions ofEuropean countries were presented. The relationship between power distance, uncertainty avoidance,masculinity, individualism and the level of social capital was proven in mentioned research. Articlewas prepared on the basis of Polish and English-speaking literature. The aim was the presentation ofcurrent research on differentiation of social capital and its elements such as general trust, institutionaltrust, informal networks, formal networks, civic participation. Also conclusions concerning possibilitiesof conducting further research in this area were presented.

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