 Christian Albrekt Larsen, How Welfare Regimes Generate and Erode Social Capital: The Impact of Underclass Phenomena Comparative studies of social capital, operationalized as social trust between citizens, have revealed two major puzzles. First, why has social capital eroded in the U.S. and other liberal welfare regimes, while it is stable in social democratic and conservative welfare regimes? Second, why does the group of social democratic regimes have extremely high levels of social trust? The answer to both puzzles lies in the presence or absence of a poor and culturally distinct underclass. The social democratic welfare regimes hinder, while the liberal welfare regimes generate, such underclass phenomena. |