“Bowling Together” isn’t a Cure-All: The Relationship between Social Capital and Political Trust in South Korea

While the social capital theory, popularized by Putnam, expects that associational life and social trust promote civic participation in political processes, some studies have demonstrated weak associations between social capital and political engagement. By applying these arguments of the limited impact of social capital, this study examines the relationship between social capital and political trust in South Korea. Survey data were analysed and it was found that both associational involvement and social trust were negatively related to trust in political institutions and commitment to voting. Furthermore, these negative relationships were mediated by citizen perceptions of poor institutional performance such as political corruption, suggesting that institutional performance is a crucial determinant of political engagement.