Religion as Social Capital: Producing the Common Good

10. Religious Involvement, Social Capital, and Political Engagement: A Comparison of the United States and Canada

Democracy, as Tocqueville insisted, requires civic associations that are not specifically political in nature, yet ones that still function as sources of meaning and social engagement. As he took note of American life in the early 1800s, Tocqueville observed that the United States had a breadth and depth of group participation that appeared to be unmatched anywhere. For Tocqueville, associational life was essential for the protection of individual liberty and the overall well being of democracy; he argued that American democracy would not survive unless citizens continued to join with others to address matters of common concern. As readers of this volume are well aware by now, more recent analyses of associational life, and its impact politically, have focused largely on what has been called “social capital,” a framework of analysis that refers to features of social organization that facilitate working and cooperating together for mutual benefit (e.g., friendship networks, norms, and social trust). Accordingly, social capital can be viewed as a set of “moral resources” that lead to increased cooperation among individuals. In the words of James Coleman (1990, 302–4): Like other forms of capital, social capital is productive, making possible theachievement of certain ends that would not be attainable in its absence. . . . For example, a group whose members manifest trustworthiness and place extensivetrust in one another will be able to accomplish much more than a comparable group lacking that trustworthiness and trust. Chapter 10 Religious Involvement, Social Capital, and Political Engagement A Comparison of the United States and Canada Corwin Smidt, John Green, James Guth, and Lyman Kellstedt 153 Social capital may be generated through a variety of formal and informal interactions between people. But, it is difficult, if not impossible, for social analysts to observe the full range of such relationships between individuals directly—even if one limited one’s analysis simply to those individuals who associate together within one distinct social network. On the other hand, it is possible to assess individual patterns of memberships in voluntary associations—and to do so across different national settings. Accordingly, considerable attention has been given to associational membership as the “indicator of choice for examining the rate of formation or destruction of social capital” (Stole & Rochon 1998, 48). How do voluntary associations help to generate social capital? Generally speaking , it is argued that participation in voluntary associations fosters interactions between people and increases the likelihood that trust between members will be generated. Group activity helps to broaden the scope of an individual’s interest, making public matters more relevant. In addition, it is argued that participation in organizations tends to increase a member’s level of information, to foster leadership skills, and to provide resources essential for effective public action (e.g., Verba et al. 1995). Moreover, such interactions with others can serve as an important stimulant of individual political activity. Thus, it is posited that involvement in voluntary associations stimulates people to become politically active—and that it does so over and beyond what might be expected simply on the basis of those personal characteristics that might be seen as predisposing individuals to such activity. Collectively, the result of such memberships in voluntary associations is an “increased capacity for collective action, cooperation, and trust within the group, enabling the collective purposes of the group to be more easily achieved” (Stolle & Rochon 1998, 48). Thus, the argument is that engagement in such civic associations (1) helps socialize individuals, teaching them mores with regard to how one should think and behave—mores necessary for maintaining a healthy society and polity, and (2) fosters engagement politically through greater public awareness, broadened interests, and enhanced skills. This chapter analyzes the relationship between religion and civic life in the United States and Canada. It does so largely through a “social capital” framework of analysis and by using what might be called a “most similar” strategy of comparative analysis (Lipset 1990, xiii). A comparative, cross-national study provides a stronger test of the posited relationship between religion and associational life than does an analysis within one cultural context. If religious life is related to the formation of social capital, then religious life and social capital should be interrelated at the individual level across both cultural contexts. However, if there are differences in religious life across the two settings, then differences in levels of social capital should also emerge across these two, “most similar,” settings. Thus, by engaging in a comparative, cross-national study of the relationship between religion and civic life, relationships...