Social Capital and Perception of Democracy in Japan

该项目的目标之一是对以下假设进行实证检验：“公民拥有的社会资本越多，他们参与政治活动的频率就越高。由于社会资本是在日常社会交往（日常谈话）中积累起来的，日常社会交往也增强了政治参与。社会资本的数量反过来又影响对政治制度的支持。为了验证这一点，我们在全国范围内进行了一项“滚雪球”抽样调查，得出了以下一系列观察结果：——总体而言，团体成员关系增强了公民之间的信任感和互惠感。然而，重要的是他们要积极参与其中。-即使是等级的群体成员，以及水平的群体成员也可以促进政治参与。-“雪球”样本的分析在测量网络环境方面更为客观，表明网络假设在有限范围内得到支持。只有配偶的政治活跃度，而不是其他人的政治活跃度，才能影响主要被调查者参与政治活动的可能性。-数据不支持最近日本政治支持率下降可归因于日本社会资本性质变化的说法。

One of the objectives of this project was to empirically test the following hypothesis:"The larger the amount of social capital that citizens possess, the more frequently they engage in political activities. As the social capital is accumulated in daily social interactions (daily conversation), daily social interaction also enhances political participation. The amount of social capital, in turn, influences support for the political system."To test this we conducted a nationwide "snowball" sample survey, and reached a following set of observations:- Group memberships, in general, enhance a sense of general trust and reciprocity among citizens. It is important, however, that they participate in them actively.- Even hierarchical group membership, along with horizontal group membership can promote political participation.- The analysis with the "snowball" samples which is more objective in its measurement of network environment suggests that the network hypothesis is supported in a limited scope. It is only the political activeness of the spouse, and not of others that can influence the likelihood of the main respondent being involved with political activities.- The data do not support the claim that the recent decline in political support in Japan can be attributed to a changing nature of social capital among Japanese.