Quality of Social Capital of a Region as a Factor in the Development of Civil Society (the Case Study of the Non-Profit Sector)

• Main Author: Olga L. Panchenko
• Format: Article
• Language: Russian
• Published: National Research Mordovia State University 2019-03-01
• Series: Регионология
• Subjects: social capital; region; sociological research; civil society; trust; solidarity; non-profit organization
• Online Access: https://regionsar.ru/en/node/1765

Introduction. The article considers the non-profit sector as an important agent of the emerging civil society in modern Russia. It plays an important role in the social space of civil society, since it is based on the activity of the citizens being actors themselves. The purpose of the study is to scrutinize the impact of social capital on the development of civil society in the regional context. Materials and Methods. The object of the research is the practices of providing social services to the population by socially oriented non-profit organizations. The study employed the following qualitative and quantitative methods: focus group and mass survey of social service recipients. Results. The article has identified the features of social capital in the non-governmental sector in the field of providing social services; the main feature is “the level of trust”, expressed through the intentions and actions of citizens receiving social services in relation to socially oriented non-profit organizations. The research has revealed that there is confidence in the activities of socially oriented non-profit organizations at the micro level of the society: recipients of social services are satisfied with the quality of the services provided and are ready to continue to interact with such institutions. Discussion and Conclusion. The study has confirmed the author’s hypothesis: the quality of social capital at this stage of social relations is a deterrent to the institutionalization of the practices of the non-profit sector. The article will be useful for the target groups - non-profit organizations as agents of civil society, public services that provide social services to the population, as well as all researchers working in the conceptual field of civil society development in the regional dimension. The promising areas of further research are the ways and directions to increase confidence in the non-profit sector as a translator of the civil society values.