SOSYAL SERMAYE SİVİL TOPLUM VE DEMOKRASİ İLİŞKİSİ

Abstract The concept of "social capital" began to be discussed intensively in the literature of humanities and social sciences in the last quarter of the 20th century. In the last two centuries, the thesis that liberal individualism is the main motivation for the development of Western countries has been accepted. Solidarity-based relationships, which were the product of traditional values such as trust and loyalty, believed to disappear as people modernized, would eventually be replaced by modern rational and interest-based individualism. The concept of social capital stood out as a compromise with neglected traditional values in an age when social welfare and development were equated with liberal individualism. Along with the social capital discussions, the idea that loneliness is not very suitable for human nature, trust and solidarity is important, and that success will increase if people support each other has started to be dominante. More importantly, the idea that this trust and solidarity “capital” and at least as valuable as other types of capital has been accepted. From the moment the concept of social capital came to the fore, it was accepted as a key to the solution of almost all contemporary social problems. It had an interdisciplinary dimension as it was related to problems such as health, education, development, democratization etc This study deals with the concept of social capital from the perspective of civil society, development and democratization. The relationship between social capital, civil society and democracy will be evaluated within the framework of approach of Robert Putnam's one of the important theorists of social capita