The Integrative Power of Civic Networks

This article moves the debate on the integrative mechanisms of civil society from the study of individual civic engagement and associational life to the study of interorganizational civic networks. Drawing upon evidence from Bristol and Glasgow, we identify a polycentric model of civic networks, based on horizontal solidarity and generalized reciprocity, in which organizations engage in micro relational patterns of balanced interdependence. Different types of ties – ‘transactions’ and ‘social bonds’ – operate as bridging and bonding forms of interorganizational social capital. Basic relational mechanisms generate network structures that are remarkably similar across locality, despite substantial differences between the two cities in their political culture and in the salience of established cleavages.