Reti associative di promozione sociale e capitale sociale. Una indagine quantitativa su scala nazionale

This paper presents the final results of a quantitative research on the production of relational goods resulting from the networking process of 110 nationally-based associations of social promotion and that of several multilevel organizations belonging to the third sector. The focus is on the capacity to create social capital, the differences between bonding and bridging social capital and the role and the meaning of both within the associative sphere and in the production of activities and services. Moreover, another important point under analysis is the interrelation among different forms of social capital and the specific ability of the organizations to establish formal relationship with other different actors, through the form of social partnerships. To summarise, the research shows a significant correlation between the existence of social capital and the emergence of social partnerships. This is evident from the spread of specific goods resulting from the multilevel relations.