The concept of social capital is widespread in the modern economic theory, sociology, political science, psychology, and cultural studies. Currently, there are many definitions of the phenomenon of social capital, approaches to its structure and ways of its measuring. According to the studies, the main structural elements of social capital are trust, social norms and values, and social networks of various kinds. A special kind of social capital is civic culture of the population, which is based on the sense of responsibility of the individual for the state of affairs in the country, region or city, recognition of the value of political rights and willingness to use them and, as a consequence, active participation of citizens in public and political life. The purpose of the present article is to study the features and trends of civic engagement of the population of the region in the context of formation of social capital of the territory. The paper analyzes the potential of civic engagement, the levels of interpersonal and institutional trust of Vologda Oblast residents, considers their participation in the activities of non-profit organizations, as well as evaluation of the influence of various public associations on the region’s life. The information base is presented by the results of special sociological measurements conducted by Vologda Research Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (former ISEDT RAS). The results of sociological research show that personal and social engagement of citizens, as a manifestation of civic culture of the population, has a direct impact on the formation and development of social capital of the regional community. Despite some positive trends emerging in 2017, the indicators of civic engagement, consolidation and solidarity of the population of the Vologda Oblast remain at a low level. Civic engagement of the population should be enhanced through the cooperation and effective engagement of civil society organizations, representatives of government, business and the media; through state support for the development of democratic institutions, humanistic principles and ideas; enforcement of the rights and freedoms of the individual; by promoting the creation of different forms of participation in public and social activities; by respecting the principles of self-government and increasing the standard of living and quality of life of the population
Keywords
social networks, values, social capital, trust, civic engagement, civic culture, social organizations, norms