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Social Capital in the 50 States: Measuring State-Level Social Capital, 1986–2004

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Daniel Hawes ,
Rene Rocha  and
Kenneth Meier
Daniel Hawes
Affiliation:
Kent State University, Kent, OH, USA
Rene Rocha*
Affiliation:
University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, USA
Kenneth Meier
Affiliation:
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX, USA
*
Rene Rocha, University of Iowa, 341 Schaeffer Hall, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

The idea of social capital has had a powerful impact on the study of politics, policy, and social science at large. Much of what we know about the causes and effects of social capital, however, is limited by the nature of data used regularly by scholars working in this area. Current data sets allow researchers to study changes in social capital over time at the national level and static differences in the distribution of social capital across the states. The inability of scholars to know how social capital varies over time and across space limits the kinds of questions that can be asked. In this article, we use sample data of more than 20,000 individuals conducted biannually in the continuous 48 states by the marketing research firm MediaMark Research, Inc. to create a unique measure of social capital that varies across time and space. These data are available at the state level from 1986 through 2004.

Keywords

Social CapitalCivic EngagementTrust
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 13 , Issue 1 , March 2013 , pp. 121 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2012

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