Geographic Variation in Social Capital: Media, Government Expenditure, Cultural Capital, and Social Disorganization

Abstract

This paper examines and empirically tests theories of media exposure, cultural capital, government intervention, and social disorganization to predict geographic variation in social capital nationally at the county scale of analysis. Secondary data are derived from Applied Geographic Solutions Inc., the U.S. Census Bureaus Population and Housing Summary Tape Files and Census of Governments, and the Federal Bureau of Investigations Uniform Crime Reports. Geographic information systems, bivariate, and multivariate statistical methodologies are used. Results show that county social capital is partially formed by demographic structure, patterns of cultural engagement, government expenditure, media use, and residential settlement. Thus, social capital is made by a complex entanglement of factors with a clearly definable political and geographic logic.