Working Paper

Social capital is a term which has been defined in many different ways and been examined mainly theoretically and less empirically. In the current paper, we attempt to detect the indicators of social capital, as defined in empirical studies whose data has been collected on behalf of the European Social Survey, the European Values Survey and questionnaires which focus on its measurement, and in this way to conclude, through a bottom-up investigation, which indicators are used more in statistical analyses and surveys for aforementioned data and questionnaires. Many researchers consider the general or interpersonal trust to be the only dimension thus equating the two concepts. In addition, a significant number of academic researchers, in an attempt to investigate social capital empirically, take the following dimensions into consideration: the generalized-interpersonal trust and the participation in volunteer organizations and formal networks. The studies and questionnaires included in the current paper refer to empirical investigations, where social capital presents three or more dimensions. The aim is to identify additional basic dimensions which are used in bibliography for the empirical investigation of social capital as also those questions which are used in studies for its empirical determination. These questions may constitute the first set of questions for the creation of a Greek Question bank, a tool which might be of great importance for the social scientist who deals with concepts of social capital.