Social capital as a factor of economic development of society

Abstract

The article deals with the commonalities and particularities in theoretical and methodological approaches to studying the essence of social capital of the founders of this theory P. Bourdieu, J. Coleman and R. Patnama. It is emphasized that despite the different object of research and the availability of specific features of the analysis of functional forms of social capital, the vision of this phenomenon as a personification of social relationships that bring an individual or public benefit are common for all three approaches. The dependence of socio-economic development of society on the quality of social capital is revealed. It is proposed to consider social capital as a resource, through which new more effective institutions are formed and distributed. The essence of civil society and its influence on economic processes are revealed. The necessary prerequisites for the formation of civil society are identified and peculiarities of its development in Ukraine and other countries are determined. The relationship between social capital and civil society is shown. The indexes of sustainability of civil society organizations, rule of law, levels of democracy and confidence in politicians as indicators of the development of civil society and social capital in individual countries are analyzed. The necessity of improving the state of social interaction and trust is emphasized in order to accelerate our country’s exit from a protracted socio-economic and political crisis. The directions of revitalization of social and political activity of citizens are offered and the possibilities of using the notion of social capital in the study of the effectiveness of institutional reforms in Ukraine are outlined.