Following public debates on the topic of trust in Quebec, this article examines the alleged social capital differential between Quebec and the rest of Canada. The literature has found lower levels of generalized trust in Quebec, but explanations offered are diverse and conjectural, with historical, sociological and political factors all in contention. We test contextual and compositional influences, including cohort differences, language and linguistic ability, religion, ethnicity, and neighbourhood-level measures of diversity, using pooled cross-sectional data from the Canadian General Social Survey (2003, 2008 and 2013) linked with precise measures of neighbourhood-level ethnic and linguistic diversity drawn from the Canadian census. We identify those Quebecers who have low levels of trust and those who more closely resemble their counterparts in the rest of Canada. We find that individual linguistic ability and linguistic heterogeneity of the neighbourhood are important correlates of trust and that among francophone populations, social distrust is found most in unilingual homogenous communities.

This study investigates the influence of business-specific, bank-specific, and political-specific networks on small firm investments in Vietnam. Also, I aim to explain how these social networks substitute the weaknesses of local institutions. Examining a set of more than 9,800 firm-year observations of small businesses in Vietnam from 2005–2015, I find that social ties with bank officials can boost firm investments; social ties with government officials can help firms overcome institutional voids; whereas social ties with businesspeople appear trivial to investment decisions. More importantly, I propose that networking, especially networks built upon connections with government officials, can substitute local institutions by addressing weaknesses in (1) inefficient legal enforcement, (2) corruption, (3) bureaucratic compliance, and (4) non-transparent governance system.

This article offers a synthesis of understandings of wasta, seen as a form of social network prevalent in the Arab Middle East. Whilst there has been increasing interest in this practice, research remains fragmented and has been criticised for its limited theoretical rigor. To address this issue, a systematic review of peer-reviewed journal articles exploring wasta published between 1993 and 2019 was conducted. We analysed the identified papers according to the theoretical lens from which wasta was viewed, creating a bridge between a theoretical focus on the macro aspect of wasta and an alternative focus on its micro aspects, leading to the development of a holistic model of wasta. The model also helps us to understand the complexity of wasta, both as the network itself and as the social ties that exist among its members, and sheds light on the complex nature of the role and interactions of the wasta. The findings respond to calls for more holistic and inclusive research to inform social networks research and bridge the micro–macro divide. This article offers recommendations to future researchers to build on the holistic and emic approach to wasta research adopted here.

Despite the major cultural and political differences between the United States and China, in both countries access to jobs is supposed to be guided by fair and equitable procedures. In the US, there is a presumption of an open labor market in which potential employees compete on the basis of their qualifications, where the fairness of decisions is guided by anti-discrimination laws and normative organizational policies. In China, although there is a history of close relationships that guide the exchange of favors, following the 1949 revolution, Communist Party leaders were given the authority to allocate positions in ways that were supposed to eliminate special privileges of class and background. Yet recent research has suggested that social connections are an important part of getting a job in both the US and China for two-thirds to three-quarters of job seekers. In the US context, such connections are described as social capital. In the Chinese context, connections are defined as guanxi. In this article, we review research on labor market processes in both the US and China to address three important questions: (a) How can we understand the similar functioning of labor markets in such distinct cultural and political systems as the US and China? (b) What are the mechanisms or processes by which people find jobs in the US and China, and how are people able to access these mechanisms or processes in the context of constraining social structures and legal environments? and (c) What are the theoretical implications of the ‘generalized particularism’ that seems to shape labor markets in both the US and China.

This essay considers the literature on the topic of social capital in relation to the economic science, and opens new perspectives of research in this area. This essay starts with a walk through the history of economic thought that has influenced social capital literature. Afterwards, the reader will find a discussion on different perspectives of research that have been followed up to now and some others in relation with the microeconomic foundations of the concept of social capital, and its connexion with economic growth and finance.

This study provided an exploratory analysis of key social determinants of health for older Canadian women, with a focus on differences between rural and urban residency, given that socio-economic status (SES) and social capital have been shown to differ by rural–urban residence. Secondary analysis was conducted using the 2000/2001 Canadian Community Health Survey. A comparative logistic regression analysis revealed, unexpectedly, that SES and social capital variables were more strongly associated with the health status of urban older women than for the health status of their rural counterparts. Associations between health status measures and household income, food insecurity, and community belonging were largely not supported among rural women, but were for their urban counterparts. Findings are discussed concerning applications of the social-determinants-of-health model for explaining health patterns among older urban and rural women. Cost of living, access to health services, and dimensions of rural culture are discussed as potential explanations.

Social cohesion is frequently mentioned in political discourse. However this concept remains vague and ill-defined. We intend to propose a typology of social cohesion patterns and examine under which conditions this concept might be used. Firstly, we sketch a brief history of its introduction in the political debate. Then we sort out three different meanings of this concept, in order to analyze which representations it is associated with.

The growth in the numbers and influence of ultra-Orthodoxy – the haredim – since the Second World War has changed Judaism worldwide, even though it remains a minority culture. Growth has occurred through the maximization of family size and through the movement of t'shuva (“return”), and it has benefited from state and private subsidies to the institutions of Torah learning (yeshivot and schooling generally), which have become one of the twin pillars of ultra-Orthodoxy. The other pillar is the shidduch, the system of concerted marriage which ensures that more or less everyone gets married, and strengthens the educational institutions which inculcate among prospective brides a preference for a learned husband engaged in full-time study, and for a life devoted to sustaining him.

L'objectif de cet article est d'étudier le rôle d'Internet dans la formation du capital social. L'usage d'Internet a-t-il un impact sur la nature et l'intensité des investissements d'un individu dans des réseaux sociaux formels et informels ? Cette question est d'abord examinée d'un point de vue théorique à l'aide d'un modèle microéconomique d'investissement en capital social. Puis, à partir de données luxembourgeoises nous tentons d'identifier empiriquement les déterminants de l'investissement en capital social hors Internet et via Internet. Nous mettons en évidence un effet positif de l'usage d'Internet sur l'engagement dans des réseaux sociaux. Par ailleurs, nous montrons que la majorité des investissements en capital social via Internet viennent en complément des investissements hors Internet (investissements directs), sauf pour les individus ayant connu une mobilité ou une rupture dans le passé (géographique, professionnelle, affective). Ces derniers semblent tirer des bénéfices importants de l'usage de l'Internet, pour entretenir ou renouveler leur capital social.