Exploring the nature of social capital elements in the unequal economic environment

Abstract

Economic inequality is rapidly increasing globally, and studies have substantiated that inequality is negatively associated with social capital. However, although studies have investigated the correlation between economic inequality and social capital, few have empirically explored social capital elements negatively related to economic inequality. This study attempted to verify the assumption that the negative association between economic inequality and social capital differs according to the characteristic of social capital elements. The study found that The economic inequality index is negatively associated with the social capital for cognitive elements such as social trust and altruism and structural element such as community participation. Furthermore, not only the current high economic inequality index but also the growth of the economic inequality index is negatively related to the level of social capital.