Civic Engagement and Social Cohesion in Rural Spaces

Using Putnam’s concept of social capital, this paper argues that rural spaces are more prone to generate bonding social capital compared to urban spaces. Thus, they are less likely to produce positive socio-political outcomes associated with bridging social capital, like inclusiveness and social cohesion. It is argued that rural areas tend to provide limited opportunities to participate in civic associations, and that these associations tend to be rather selective and internally homogeneous. These associations thus generate bonding social capital which does not bridge social dividing lines between social groups. Also, since the opportunities are limited, certain people are excluded from associational life which in rural areas is more likely to lead to an exclusion of communal life in general. I hypothesize that civic engagement generates different socio-political outcomes in urban and rural spaces respectively. Using survey data from the German Freiwilligensurvey (1999-2014) regression analyses are conducted to test in which way different measures of subjective social cohesion (trust, sense of belonging, solidarity) are associated with civic engagement. Empirical analyses reveal that, within urban areas, there is a clear positive association between the level of civic engagement and social cohesion measures, while this link cannot be found within urban areas. I come up with the conclusion that civic associations in rural areas are rather selective and do connect different social networks to each other. As a consequence, they do not promote social cohesion.