CAPITAL SOCIAL E PADR ES DE PARTICIPA O POLíTICO-SOCIAL EM IJUí – RS

The main objective of this paper is to examine the political and social participation levels in the city of Ijuí – northwest Rio Grande do Sul – Brazil. The central hypothesisis that practices of civic action are declining (associations, participants and institutional and interpersonal trust) among the members of the community, in the last decades, being these the reasons for the negative variation of social capital in the city. The paper utilizes Putnam’s theoretical and methodological proposal. The second part analyzes the results of a survey research which consisted of 400 interviews in 2005. The result of this research was compared with a survey research conducted in 1968 in order to establish longitudinal comparisons. The longitudinal comparisons between 1968 and 2005, indicates the decline of civic manifestations as well as the reduction of conventional political participation, high levels of distrust reduction of associativity and cooperation. Theses results are consistent with the hypothesis of this dissertation about the negative variation of social capital in Ijuí.