This study uses data from the 2005 and 2007 Citizenship Survey to map broad differences in levels of volunteering and social capital between ninety different types of place in England, characterised by their regional location and level of deprivation. A measure of social capital in each type of place is constructed using a multivariate multilevel statistical model and the association with rates of volunteering is then examined. The results show a positive association at the area level between the level of formal volunteering and informal volunteering and the level of social capital. The rate of both formal and informal volunteering was, however, unrelated to the level of social capital after controlling for area deprivation. These results raise concerns about the ability of volunteering to change the social characteristics of deprived areas independently of their material circumstances. Communities have strengths primarily in areas concerned with maintaining social order rather than creating economic growth. Policies to tackle area deprivation need to concentrate on linking deprived areas up to economic opportunities in more affluent surrounding areas rather than on local strategies based on self-help.
AminA, 2001, “Moving on: institutionalism in economic geography”Environment and Planning A331237–1241
2.
AttwoodCSinghGPrimeDCreaseyR, 2003 2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey: People, Families and CommunitiesHome Office Research, Development and Statistics Directorate, London
3.
BattyEBeattyCFodenMLawlessPPearsonSWilsonI, 2010Making Deprived Areas Better Places to Live: Evidence from the New Deal for Communities ProgrammeDepartment of Communities and Local Government, London
4.
Blokland-PottersTSavageM, 2008Networked Urbanism: Social Capital in the City (Ashgate, Aldershot, Hants)
5.
ButlerTRobsonG, 2003, “Negotiating their way in: the middle classes, gentrification and the deployment of capital in a globalising metropolis”Urban Studies401791–1809
CaseyT, 2004, “Social capital and regional economies in Britain”Political Studies5296–117
8.
ChampionT, 1999, “Migration and British cities in the 1990s”National Institute Economic Review17060–77
9.
CheshirePMonastiriotisVSheppardS, 2002, “Income inequality and residential segregation: labour sorting and the demand for positional goods”, in Geographies of Labour Market Inequality Eds MartinRMorrisonP (Routledge, London) pp 83–109
10.
ColemanJ S, 1988, “Social capital in the creation of human-capital”American Journal of Sociology94S95–S120
Department of Communities and Local Government, 2010Local Growth: Realising Every Place's Potential (The Stationery Office, London)
13.
ElhorstJ P, 2003, “The mystery of regional unemployment differentials: theoretical and empirical explanations”Journal of Economic Surveys17709–748
14.
FineB, 2001Social Capital versus Social Theory: Political Economy and Social Science at the Turn of the Millenium (Routledge, London)
15.
GordonITurokI, 2005, “How urban labour markets matter”, in Changing Cities Eds BuckNGordonIHardingATurokI (Palgrave, London) pp 242–264
16.
GranovetterM S, 1973, “The strength of weak ties”The American Journal of Sociology781360–1380
17.
GreenAGreggPWadsworthJ, 1998, “Regional unemployment changes in Britain”, in Unemployment and Social Exclusion: Landscapes of Labour Inequality Eds LawlessPMartinRHardyS (Jessica Kingsley, London) pp 65–94
18.
GreggPWadsworthJ, 2003, “Labour market prospects of less skilled workers over the recovery”, in The Labour Market Under New Labour: The State of Working Britain II Eds DickensRGreggPWadsworthJ (Palgrave Macmillan, London) pp 86–97
19.
HadjimichalisC, 2006, “Non-economic factors in economic geography and in ‘New Regionalism’: a sympathetic critique”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research30690–704
20.
HalpernD, 2005Social Capital (Polity Press, Cambridge)
21.
HarloeM, 2001, “Social justice and the city: the new ‘liberal formulation’”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research25889–897
22.
KendallJ, 2009Handbook on Third Sector Policy in Europe: Multilevel Processes and Organized Civil Society (Edward Elgar, Cheltenham, Glos)
23.
KennedyB PKawachiIProthrow-StithDLochnerKGuptaV, 1998, “Social capital, income inequality, and firearm violent crime”Social Science and Medicine477–17
24.
LawlessPFodenMWilsonIBeattyC, 2010, “Understanding area-based regeneration: the New Deal for Communities Programme in England”Urban Studies47257–275
25.
LeviM, 1996, “Social and unsocial capital: a review essay of Robert Putnam's Making Democracy Work”Politics and Society2445–55
26.
LinNEricksonB H, 2008Social Capital: An International Research Program (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
LoveringJ, 1999, “Theory led by policy: the inadequacies of the ‘New Regionalism’ (illustrated from the case of Wales)”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research23379–395
29.
LowndesV, 2000, “Women and social sapital: a comment on Hall's Social Capital in Britain”British Journal of Political Science30533–537
MasseyD B, 1984Spatial Divisions of Labour: Social Structures and the Geography of Production (Macmillan, London)
32.
MayerM, 2003, “The onward sweep of social capital: causes and consequences for understanding cities, communities and urban movements”International Journal of Urban and Regional Research27110–132
33.
MohanJBarnardSJonesKTwiggL, 2004Social Capital, Place and Health: Creating, Validating and Applying Small-area Indicators in the Modelling of Health OutcomesNational Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence, London
34.
MuntanerC, 2004, “Commentary: Social capital, social class, and the slow progress of psychosocial epidemiology”International Journal of Epidemiology33674–680
35.
NobleMWrightGDibbenCSmithGMcLennanDAnttilaCBarnesHCovizziIMokhtarCNobleSAvenellDGardnerJLloydM, 2004The English Indices of Deprivation, 2004Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, Neighbourhood Renewal Unit, London
36.
OfferA, 2006The Challenge of Affluence: Self-control and Well-being in the United States and Britain since 1950 (Oxford University Press, Oxford)
37.
ParkinF, 1979Marxism and Class Theory: A Bourgeois Critique (Tavistock Publications, London)
38.
PattieCSeydPWhiteleyP, 2003, “Citizenship and civic engagement: attitudes and behaviour in Britain”Political Studies51443–468
39.
PioreM JSabelC F, 1984The Second Industrial Divide: Possibilities for Prosperity (Basic Books, New York)
40.
PortesA, 1998, “Social capital: its origins and applications in modern sociology”Annual Review of Sociology241–224
41.
PortesAMooneyM, 2002, “Social capital and community development”, in The New Economic Sociology: Developments in an Emerging Field Eds GuillénM FCollinsREnglandP (Russell Sage Foundation, New York) pp 303–329
42.
PutnamR D, 1995, “Bowling alone: America's declining social capital”Journal of Democracy665–78
43.
PutnamR DLeonardiRNanettiR Y, 1993Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ)
44.
RaudenbushS WSampsonR, 1999, “Assessing direct and indirect effects in multilevel designs with latent variables”Sociological Methods and Research28123–15
45.
SampsonR J, 1999, “What ‘community’ supplies”, in Urban Problems and Community Development Eds FergusonR FDickensW T (Brookings Institution Press Washington, DC) pp 241–292
46.
SampsonR JRaudenbushS WEarlsF, 1997, “Neighborhoods and violent crime: a multilevel study of collective efficacy”Science277918–924
47.
SavageM, 2000Class Analysis and Social Transformation (Open University, Milton Keynes, Bucks)
48.
SkocpolT, 2003Diminished Democracy: From Membership to Management in American Civic Life (University of Oklahoma Press, Norman, OK)
49.
SkrondalARabe-HeskethS, 2009, “Prediction in multilevel generalized linear models”Journal of the Royal Statistical Society: Series A (Statistics in Society)172659–687
50.
SlaterDTonkissF, 2000Market Society: Markets and Modern Social Theory (Polity Press, Malden, MA)
51.
Smith-DoerrLPowellW W, 2005, “Networks and economic life”, in Handbook of Economic Sociology Eds SmelserN JSwedbergR (Russell Sage Foundation/Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ) pp 379–402
52.
StaffordMBartleyMSackerAMarmotMWilkinsonRBorehamRThomasR, 2003, “Measuring the social environment: social cohesion and material deprivation in English and Scottish neighbourhoods”Environment and Planning A351459–1475
53.
SyrettSNorthD, 2008Renewing Neighbourhoods: Work, Enterprise and Governance (Policy Press, Bristol)
54.
TaylorM, 2007, “The nature of community organizing: social capital and community leadership”, in The Handbook of Community Movements and Local Organizations Eds CnaanRMilofskyC (Springer, New York) pp 329–345
55.
TrentmannF, 2000Paradoxes of Civil Society: New Perspectives on Modern German and British History (Berghahn, New York)
56.
TurokIEdgeN, 1999The Jobs Gap in Britain's Cities: Employment Loss and Labour Market Consequences (Policy Press, Bristol)
57.
TwiggLBarnardSMohanJJonesK, 2006, “Developing and evaluating small-area indicators of the neighbourhood social environment”Environment and Planning A382173–2192
58.
UslanerE, 2008, “Trust as a moral value”, in The Handbook of Social Capital Eds CastiglioneDvan DethJ WWollebG (Oxford University Press, Oxford) pp 101–121
59.
WilliamsC C, 2003, “Developing voluntary activity: Some policy issues arising from the 2001 Home Office Citizenship Survey”Social Policy and Society2285–294
60.
WoolcockM, 1998, “Social capital and economic development: toward a theoretical synthesis and policy framework”Theory and Society27151–208
