Individualism-Collectivism and Social Capital at the Individual Level

Contrary to a widely held belief, a strong positive association between individualism and social capital can be observed at the cross-national level of analysis (Realo and Allik, 2009). The present study examines the relationship between social capital and individualism-collectivism at the individual level using nationally representative sample of adults from The Estonian Survey of Culture and Personality (N = 1,451). Results suggest that only one component of individualism--mature self-responsibility-but also peer- and society-related forms of collectivism, exhibited positive associations with social capital. Thus, although the positive relationship between individualism and social capital seems to hold in some respects at the individual level, the relationship between social capital and different components of individualism-collectivism appears rather multi-faceted. Keywords: individualism, collectivism, social capital DOI: 10.3176/tr.2012.3.01