KAPITAŁ SPOŁECZNY W EUROPEJSKICH WELFARE STATES
SOCIAL CAPITAL IN EUROPEAN WELFARE STATES

Summary/Abstract: The crisis of public finances in European countries, makes the idea of the welfare state is exposed to particularly harsh criticism today. It is not limited to emphasize the lack of effectiveness of these institutions. Also empha-sizes the negative impact of welfare state institutions to the third sector - reducing the areas of civic activity, and thus, elimination of natural resources to generate social capital. Referring to this problem, the objective of this article is to presentthe facts -the abundance of social capital atthe disposal of citizens representing five types of welfare states: Anglo-Saxon, Continental Conservative, Social Democratic, Post-communist and Southern European. The measurement of social capital was carried out taking into account its three dimen-sions: trust (individual and institutional), civic activity (bonding and bridging capital) and satisfaction with life (individual and institutional). The empirical analysis is based on data from studies carried out in 2010 under the European Social Survey.

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