Summary report on the on-line and off-line social capitals : Japan and the US web-based questionnaire surveys in 2008

オンライン ト オフライン ノ シャカイ カンケイ シホン 2008ネン ニホン アメリカ ヒカク チョウサ ノ ケッカカラ

ツジ, ダイスケ

Tsuji, Daisuke

オオサカ ダイガク ダイガクイン ニンゲン カガク ケンキュウカ シャカイガク ニンゲンガク ジンルイガク ケンキュウシツ

Sociology, Anthropology and Philosophy, Graduate School of Human Sciences, Osaka University

インターネット

一般的信頼

互酬性

対人関係

social capital

Internet

general trust

reciprocity

interpersonal relationship

In recent years relationships mediated by the Internet have been studied from the viewpoint of “social capital”, but a very few researchers have took into account the possibility that the conditions of on-line and off-line social capitals may differ. Kobayashi and Ikeda (2005) conducted a questionnaire survey focusing on its difference and found that on-line/off-line social capitals such as general trust and reciprocity have different effects upon on-line/off-line civic engagements and so on. In 2008 I conducted web-based surveys in Japan and the US containing questions about on-line/off-line social capitals. The results showed that on-line general trust and two kinds of reciprocities were lower than off-line ones both in Japan and the US. Variables of gender, age, education and job had different relations to social capitals between the countries and also between on-line and off-line. Correlations between on-line and off-line social capitals were in middle range or lower. On-line trust and reciprocity had statistically significant effects almost solely upon on-line relationships and activities, and off-line upon off-line. This result means that on-line social capitals do not directly spill over into the off-line society. These findings as a whole strongly suggest that on-line social capitals have considerably different characteristics from off-line ones.