The social capital of political parties and public organizations in regional society: methodology of sociological analysis

Abstract

Background. The ongoing changes in socio-political relations require studying the social aspects of the interaction of such participants as political parties and public organizations. An important problem is the accumulation of social capital in the process of social interaction of parties and organizations with government structures and with representatives of society. The aim of the work is to systematize various sociological approaches to the analysis of social capital and to implement structural and factorial operationalization of the concept of “social capital of political parties and public organizations”. Materials and methods. The implementation of the research tasks was achieved on the basis of the methodology of institutional approach applicable to the theoretical analysis of scientific works of foreign and Russian sociologists on the signs and factors of the formation of social capital in the modern society. Results. Based on the comparison of the views of modern foreign and Russian sociologists, a structural and factorial operationalization of the concept of “social capital of political parties and public organizations” operating in the conditions of regional society is developed. Conclusions. The structural operationalization of the concept of “social capital of political parties and public organizations” includes: social connections or networks for the exchange of information and interaction of individuals; social norms regulating interaction on the principle of mutual compensation of effort spent and equal return; trust in social and political institutions, public figures and leaders, organizations and trust in representatives of the surrounding society. Factor operationalization includes: objective factors (socio-economic, socio-communication, socio-political); subjective factors (socio-psychological); factors of social interaction (orientation and intensity of social interactions). On the basis of this methodology, from the standpoint of an institutional approach, it is possible to further study the accumulation of social capital of political parties and public organizations in the conditions of the region. Social relationships, trust, and the social well-being of the representatives of the regional society form the social basis for the development of this capital.

Keywords

• social capital
• political parties
• social organizations
• region
• institutional framework
• social tension