IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/urbstu/v49y2012i1p185-202.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

‘One Size Fits All’? An Empirical Study into the Multidimensionality of Social Cohesion Indicators in Belgian Local Communities

Author

Listed:
  • Sarah Botterman
  • Marc Hooghe
  • Tim Reeskens

Abstract

Recently, various attempts have been undertaken to develop a comprehensive social cohesion index to monitor the social progress of society. However, classical sociological theories predict that contemporary modern communities function according to a different type of social cohesion than traditional communities. From both a theoretical and a methodological perspective, it can be questioned whether social cohesion can be summarised into one single index. In this article, an extensive dataset of social cohesion indicators is analysed, including indicators of religious involvement, social inclusion, crime and voter turnout, for 308 local communities in the Flemish region of Belgium. Based on first- and second-order factor analyses, it is concluded that it is impossible to construct one single indicator for social cohesion when taking the multidimensionality of the concept into account. While the traditional form prevails in rural areas, it does not coincide with a distinct modern form that prevails in urban areas.

Suggested Citation

  • Sarah Botterman & Marc Hooghe & Tim Reeskens, 2012. "‘One Size Fits All’? An Empirical Study into the Multidimensionality of Social Cohesion Indicators in Belgian Local Communities," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 49(1), pages 185-202, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:49:y:2012:i:1:p:185-202
    DOI: 10.1177/0042098010397397
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0042098010397397
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/0042098010397397?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. William Easterly & Jozef Ritzen & Michael Woolcock, 2006. "Social Cohesion, Institutions, And Growth," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 18(2), pages 103-120, July.
    2. Ed Diener & Eunkook Suh, 1997. "Measuring Quality Of Life: Economic, Social, And Subjective Indicators," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 40(1), pages 189-216, January.
    3. Rupasingha, Anil & Goetz, Stephan J. & Freshwater, David, 2006. "The production of social capital in US counties," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 35(1), pages 83-101, February.
    4. Regina Berger-Schmitt, 2002. "Considering Social Cohesion in Quality of Life Assessments: Concept and Measurement," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 58(1), pages 403-428, June.
    5. Stolle, Dietlind & Hooghe, Marc, 2005. "Inaccurate, Exceptional, One-Sided or Irrelevant? The Debate about the Alleged Decline of Social Capital and Civic Engagement in Western Societies," British Journal of Political Science, Cambridge University Press, vol. 35(1), pages 149-167, January.
    6. René Bekkers & Ingrid Veldhuizen, 2008. "Geographical Differences In Blood Donation And Philanthropy In The Netherlands – What Role For Social Capital?," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 99(4), pages 483-496, September.
    7. Durkheim, Emile, 1897. "De la division du travail social," History of Economic Thought Books, McMaster University Archive for the History of Economic Thought, edition 2, number durkheim.
    8. Joseph Chan & Ho-Pong To & Elaine Chan, 2006. "Reconsidering Social Cohesion: Developing a Definition and Analytical Framework for Empirical Research," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 75(2), pages 273-302, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. David Schiefer & Jolanda Noll, 2017. "The Essentials of Social Cohesion: A Literature Review," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 579-603, June.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sung-Geun Kim, 2023. "What can we talk about social cohesion in Korea? An item response theory approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 57(3), pages 2409-2427, June.
    2. Muhammad Tariq Majeed, 2017. "Economic Growth and Social Cohesion: Evidence from the Organization of Islamic Conference Countries," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 132(3), pages 1131-1144, July.
    3. Maldonado Valera, Carlos & Marinho, María Luisa & Robles, Claudia & Tromben, Varinia, 2022. "Social cohesion and inclusive social development in Latin America: A proposal for an era of uncertainties," Documentos de Proyectos 47884, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL).
    4. Gislain Stéphane GANDJON FANKEM & Dieudonné TAKA & Sévérin TAMWO, 2023. "The effects of new skills acquired abroad by return migrants on social relations and quality of life in Cameroon," Region et Developpement, Region et Developpement, LEAD, Universite du Sud - Toulon Var, vol. 58, pages 21-49.
    5. Andréasson, Hannes & Elert, Niklas & Karlson, Nils, 2013. "Does Social Cohesion Really Promote Reforms?," Ratio Working Papers 211, The Ratio Institute.
    6. Parhi, Mamata & Diebolt, Claude & Mishra, Tapas & Gupta, Prashant, 2013. "Convergence dynamics of output: Do stochastic shocks and social polarization matter?," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 42-51.
    7. Carmen Mariana CODREANU, 2012. "Economic indicators of quality of life," Anale. Seria Stiinte Economice. Timisoara, Faculty of Economics, Tibiscus University in Timisoara, vol. 0, pages 794-799, May.
    8. SARRACINO Francesco, 2011. "Income missing values imputation: EVS 1999 and 2008," LISER Working Paper Series 2011-05, Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research (LISER).
    9. Francesco Burchi & Armin von Schiller & Christoph Strupat, 2020. "Social protection and revenue collection: How they can jointly contribute to strengthening social cohesion," International Social Security Review, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 73(3), pages 13-32, July.
    10. Jacqueline Beuningen & Hans Schmeets, 2013. "Developing a Social Capital Index for the Netherlands," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 859-886, September.
    11. Lima de Miranda, Katharina & Snower, Dennis J., 2020. "Recoupling Economic and Social Prosperity," IZA Discussion Papers 12998, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    12. Marek Walesiak & Grażyna Dehnel, 2023. "A Measurement of Social Cohesion in Poland’s NUTS2 Regions in the Period 2010–2019 by Applying Dynamic Relative Taxonomy to Interval-Valued Data," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-21, February.
    13. Bujar Aruqaj, 2023. "An Integrated Approach to the Conceptualisation and Measurement of Social Cohesion," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 227-263, August.
    14. Gianmaria Bottoni, 2018. "A Multilevel Measurement Model of Social Cohesion," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(3), pages 835-857, April.
    15. Fahad Khalid, 2019. "Literature Review on Social Cohesion and Economic Growth," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 3(4), pages 39-60.
    16. Walle, Yabibal Mulualem, 2022. "Determinants of social cohesion: Cross-country evidence," IDOS Discussion Papers 18/2022, German Institute of Development and Sustainability (IDOS).
    17. Carola Hommerich & Tim Tiefenbach, 2018. "Analyzing the Relationship Between Social Capital and Subjective Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Social Affiliation," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(4), pages 1091-1114, April.
    18. Silke Goubin, 2018. "Is Inequality a Latent Construct? An Assessment of Economic Inequality Indicators and Their Relation with Social Cohesion in Europe," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 136(1), pages 21-40, February.
    19. Rico Neumann & Barbara Pfetsch & Swen Hutter & Simon Koschut & David Schieferdecker & Jule Specht, 2023. "The Rhetoric of Solidarity: Nature and Measurement of Social Cohesion in the Self-representation of Civil Society Organizations," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 169(3), pages 863-882, October.
    20. Sieds, 2019. "Complete Volume LXXIII n. 3 2019," RIEDS - Rivista Italiana di Economia, Demografia e Statistica - The Italian Journal of Economic, Demographic and Statistical Studies, SIEDS Societa' Italiana di Economia Demografia e Statistica, vol. 73(3), pages 1-150, July-Sept.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:49:y:2012:i:1:p:185-202. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.gla.ac.uk/departments/urbanstudiesjournal .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.