Civil society: the use of social capital in two local communities

Chapter 3 then introduced civil society and looked at two local communities, namely Klitmøller and Karby. By the use of statistical, historical and fieldwork data from these two peripheral rural communities in Denmark, it was demonstrated how intangible capital in the form of social, organizational and cultural capital was used in situ, at the micro level. We suggested that the difference in economic performance between these two very similar communities – both high-trust communities – should be explained in their varying ability to capitalize upon local stocks of prevailingly intangible capital. Klitmøller manages well, as mirrored in population increase, which could be explained by numerous hard-riders and volunteers, an open inclusive culture and effective organizational capital. Karby suffers from a steady population decline and is managing less well, something we explained as a result of fewer hard-riders (only three or four “draught animals”) to secure positive local development, as well as less openness towards the surrounding world. Overall, meeting places were found to be crucial for specific and social trust to lubricate bridging social capital. And indeed there were many more “public” meeting places for all in Klitmøller, while “private” meeting places prevailed in Karby.