Young Australians: building social capital through membership of organised groups

Social capital is defined as norms of trust and reciprocity held by a group of individuals or organisations. Family, neighbourhood and friendship realms are often informal platforms upon which young people develop their social capital. In addition, membership of organised groups has been central in discussions of social capital since Robert Putnam (2000) asserted that levels of social capital in the United States of America had declined by pointing out that Americans had stopped attending meetings in volunteer associations and social clubs. Using the perspective of bonding and bridging social capital as starting bases for cultivating social capital, this thesis focuses on the mobilisation of social capital in different social settings. Also, this study examines whether young people are likely to be active members of organised groups if they have generated higher levels of social capital with their family members, friends and neighbours. Another focus of this thesis is to investigate whether group membership makes a difference to young Australians’ levels of civic engagement and generalised trust. Young Australians and permanent residents aged 16 to 25 (N = 283) participated in this study through an online survey. The findings support previous literature, which found members of organised groups to be more trusting and reciprocative in general than those who do not participate in any organised groups. Indeed, passive membership is as important as active membership of organised groups for promoting civic engagement and generalised social capital. Family social capital may serve as a starting base for young people to generate social capital with their friends. However, the data analysed in this thesis show that those who generate very high social capital with their family members are not likely to have higher social capital in all other social settings. Indeed, my findings suggest that social capital among friends and neighbours are important in extending social capital among people in general. Thus, policy makers should turn their focus to promoting social capital among neighbours by creating safe, cohesive, active and stable neighbourhoods, because these four characteristics are identified as important in increasing levels of social capital among neighbours. Finally, it is also important for policy makers to promote organised groups for young people to participate in.