The role of social capital in the Russian mortality crisis
The role of social capital in the Russian mortality crisis
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DOI：
10.1016/s0305-750x(98)00094-1
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发表时间：
1998-11-01
影响因子：
6.9
通讯作者：
Brainerd, E
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Kennedy, BP;Kawachi, I;Brainerd, E
新出现的证据表明，社会凝聚力的程度是人口健康状况的一个重要决定因素。生活在高度社会凝聚力的社会中的公民--其特点是强大的社交网络和高度的人际信任--似乎比生活在社会组织混乱的社会中的公民更健康。流行病学家对民间社会和社会资本的概念感兴趣，以解释不同社会的健康差异。本文的目的是研究社会资本在俄罗斯死亡率危机中的作用。社会资本被定义为社会组织的特征，如公民协会的密度，人际信任的水平和互惠的规范，这些特征作为个人的资源，并促进集体行动。公民社会是一个拥有丰富社会资本的社会。许多学者认为，苏维埃政权的一个显著特点是缺乏公民社会。利用全俄民意研究中心（VTsIOM）的家庭调查数据，我们对俄罗斯40个地区的社会资本指标与死亡率之间的关联进行了横断面生态分析。我们发现社会资本指标（对政府的不信任、犯罪、工作关系质量、公民参与政治）与预期寿命以及死亡率之间存在关联。在没有公民社会的情况下，人们认为，在后苏联时代的俄罗斯，更多的人依靠非正式的支持来源（朋友，家人）来处理他们的日常问题。那些缺乏这种支助来源的人在向市场经济转型后可能特别容易受到经济困难的影响。(C)1998爱思唯尔科技有限公司版权所有。
Emerging evidence suggests that the degree of social cohesion is an important determinant of population health status. Citizens living in societies with a high degree of social cohesion - characterized by strong social networks and high levels of interpersonal trust seem to be healthier than those living in socially disorganized societies. Epidemiologists have become interested in notions of civil society and social capital to explain variations in health across societies. The purpose of the present paper was to examine the role of social capital in the Russian mortality crisis. Social capital has been defined as those features of social organization - such as the density of civic associations, levels of interpersonal trust, and norms of reciprocity - that act as resources for individuals, and facilitate collective action. A civil society is one that is rich in stocks of social capital. Various scholars have argued that one of the distinguishing characteristics of the Soviet regime was the paucity of civil society. Using household survey data from the All-Russian Center for Public Opinion research (VTsIOM), we carried out a cross-sectional, ecologic analysis of the association between indicators of social capital and mortality rates across 40 regions of Russia. We found associations between indicators of social capital (mistrust in government, crime, quality of work relations, civic engagement in politics) and life expectancy, as well as mortality rates. In the absence of civil society, it is believed that far more people in post-Soviet Russia rely on informal sources of support (friends, family) to deal with their day to day problems. Those lacking such sources of support may have been especially vulnerable to the economic hardships following the transformation to a market economy. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.