ABSTRACT
The recent surge in social capital research has led to a renewed interest in the environments that can function as forums for social participation. As a result political scientists have (once again) extended their definition of associations that may be relevant from a democratic point of view, and moved beyond interest groups, social movements, political parties and trade unions. Only by virtue of taking into account engagement in other, at first sight, ‘non-political’ associations such as churches, self-help groups and sports clubs, it becomes possible to get a complete picture of the relationship between social and political participation. It was also rediscovered that these primarily non-political associations turned out to be highly relevant for the functioning of democracies – something previously emphasized by Tocqueville.
