Social Capital: The Challenge of International Measurement - The Measurement of Social Capital in the US
As a society, the U.S. has a strong history of group-joining, giving, and community spirit, all key components of social capital.1 At the same time, we also have a strong history of government distrust, and a belief that the government should stay out of individuals' personal and family lives. Unlike some other OECD countries, the U.S. does not have a federal agency (ministry) devoted to "society" or social issues in general. In part because of these historical factors, to date there has been no focused federal effort to study or measure social capital. Although the concept of social capital has been reflected in federally sponsored data collections for some time, these collections have several limitations. They tend to focus on limited components of social capital of interest to specific agencies (e.g., voting, volunteering), they often focus on groups other than the adult population, and they are often fielded on an irregular basis. As discussed below, this situation may be changing.
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