The rise and fall of social cohesion : the construction and de-construction of social trust in the US, UK, Sweden and Denmark / Christian Albrekt Larsen
1. The Rise and Fall of Social Cohesion ; PART 1: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE MIDDLE-CLASS SOCIETY: A KERNEL OF TRUTH ; 2. The Three Threats to the Social Fabric of the "Golden Age" ; 3. The Contingent Consequences of the Three Threats ; PART 2: THE IMPORTANCE OF PERCEPTIONS ; 4. A Social Constructivist Theory of Economic Inequality and Trust ; 5. Perceptions of Middle-Class Society and Social Trust: A Micro- Perspective ; PART 3: THE CONSTRUCTION OF MEMBERS OF THE IMAGINED NATIONAL COMMUNITY: THE CASE OF "THE BOTTOM" ; 6. How to Study the Social Construction of "the Bottom" ; 7. The Media Poor and the Stories about them ; 8. The Stereotypes of "the Bottom" and "the Middle" ; PART 4: THE CONTEMPORARY CHALLENGES: VICIOUS -- AND VIRTUOUS -- FEEDBACK CIRCLES ; 9. Public Opinion towards Integrative Policies ; 10. Increased Ethnic Diversity: A Threat to Social Cohesion ; 11. The Ability to Overcome Out-group Perceptions: Face-to-face Interaction Revisited ; CONCLUSION ; Social Cohesion: A Process of Construction and De-construction
Summary
This volume explores the ways in which social cohesion can be established and undermined. It examines the US and UK, where social cohesion declined in the latter part of the 20th century and Sweden and Denmark, where social cohesion increased, and puts forward a social constructivist explanation for this shift
