Family, Personal Networks and Social Capital

Abstract

The aim of this article is, using a survey taken on a representative sample of the Italian population as our starting point, to verify whether support networks can still be considered a resource for Italians (and if so how far these networks reach and how intense the flows of help individuals can draw on in their primary networks are) and to investigate more closely to what extent the existence of such a network affects the degree of satisfaction the average Italian expresses regarding certain fundamental aspects of daily life: economic resources, family, friends, work, free time and health. The results of the study demonstrate that the primary social capital available to Italians has been seriously eroded in recent years and that satisfaction levels are linked much more closely to the stage an individual has reached in their life cycle than to the amount of social capital available to them.