<p><strong><p>Abstract</p><p>The political parties in Sweden are losing members. This is seen as a problem because the political parties are the base and the recruiting ground for members to decision-making bodies. Social movements are seen as a place where people with a modest background could express their opinions and also learn the political process. These movements have also lost members during the last decades and this could seriously affect the representation of lower social groups among the decision-makers. This essay emanates from Robert D. Putnam’s theory of the importance of a strong civil society and social capital for democracy and a fair social representation in governing bodies. The goal with this essay was to examine if people with background in social-movements was over-represented in decision-making bodies and if their experiences from those organization had been important for them in their role in decision-making bodies. The conclusion was that there was no over-representation of people with background in social movements compared to Sweden in general. Experiences from earlier engagement in social movements seem to have been more important for the group with low socioeconomic status but this connection cannot be said to be general.</p><p>Keywords: social capital, civil society, social movements, socioeconomic status</p></strong></p>

<p>Syftet med denna studie är att se hur det sociala kapitalet ser ut i Sverige utifrån länsuppdelningen. Syftet är även att studera sambandet mellan det sociala kapitalet och ett antal faktorer, på individnivå och länsnivå. I denna studie har jag använt mig av material från SOM-institutet och gjort en jämförande studie för att dels beskriva hur det ser ut men även pröva teorier. Jag har använt mig av teorin kring det sociala kapitalet som främst Robert D. Putnam och Bo Rothstein har problematiserat och definierat. Jag har även tagit upp faktorer kring det sociala kapitalet, nämligen förtroende till samhällsinstitutioner, organisationsdeltagande, tidningsläsande, ekonomiska förhållanden samt utbildningsgrad. Det finns skillnader i Sverige, men inte stora skillnader. Det finns samband som kan statistisk säkerställas mellan faktorerna tidningsläsande, organisationsdeltagande och hushållsekonomi på mellanmänsklig tillit på länsnivå men inte på individnivå.</p>

Syftet med denna studie är att se hur det sociala kapitalet ser ut i Sverige utifrån länsuppdelningen. Syftet är även att studera sambandet mellan det sociala kapitalet och ett antal faktorer, på individnivå och länsnivå. I denna studie har jag använt mig av material från SOM-institutet och gjort en jämförande studie för att dels beskriva hur det ser ut men även pröva teorier. Jag har använt mig av teorin kring det sociala kapitalet som främst Robert D. Putnam och Bo Rothstein har problematiserat och definierat. Jag har även tagit upp faktorer kring det sociala kapitalet, nämligen förtroende till samhällsinstitutioner, organisationsdeltagande, tidningsläsande, ekonomiska förhållanden samt utbildningsgrad. Det finns skillnader i Sverige, men inte stora skillnader. Det finns samband som kan statistisk säkerställas mellan faktorerna tidningsläsande, organisationsdeltagande och hushållsekonomi på mellanmänsklig tillit på länsnivå men inte på individnivå.

Abstract The political parties in Sweden are losing members. This is seen as a problem because the political parties are the base and the recruiting ground for members to decision-making bodies. Social movements are seen as a place where people with a modest background could express their opinions and also learn the political process. These movements have also lost members during the last decades and this could seriously affect the representation of lower social groups among the decision-makers. This essay emanates from Robert D. Putnam’s theory of the importance of a strong civil society and social capital for democracy and a fair social representation in governing bodies. The goal with this essay was to examine if people with background in social-movements was over-represented in decision-making bodies and if their experiences from those organization had been important for them in their role in decision-making bodies. The conclusion was that there was no over-representation of people with background in social movements compared to Sweden in general. Experiences from earlier engagement in social movements seem to have been more important for the group with low socioeconomic status but this connection cannot be said to be general. Keywords: social capital, civil society, social movements, socioeconomic status

The civil society is considered an important component of a democratic system and is supported by political advocates. During the 2015 migrant crisis the voluntary sector, as part of the civil society, played an important role shouldering a lot of responsibility for the arrival of refugees. This led to criticisms aimed towards the public sector and it’s absence in regard to the same situation. The purpose of this essay is to investigate and explain the political paradox created in connection with the migrant crisis of 2015. Using the ”perspective of responsibility” as a starting-point this essay will look at the public sector’s- and respectively the civil society’s actions during the crisis as a benchmark. This essay will use the method known as case study, through a qualitative text analysis as a base. The different sectors and their respective relationships to the perspective of responsibility will be discussed through three separate ways in which Robert Putnams theory on social capital &amp; citizenship, and Henrik Berggren &amp; Lars Trägårdhs theory on the Swedish state individualism will be discussed. Using these two separate theories together with the perspective of responsibility as a foundation, the study will illustrate the problematic aspects of civil society partly bearing the responsibilities of the public sector’s areas of responsibility during the fall of 2015. This essay found that some of the negative criticism pointed at the public sector was misguided during the fall 2015.