Social Capital and Political Consumerism: A Multilevel Analysis

Does social capital-trust and association involvement-predict political consumerism-boycotting and boycotting? Using data from the 2002/2003 European Social Survey we conduct a multilevel logit analysis of 24,854 individuals nested in 228 within-country regions to evaluate whether social capital and political consumerism are positively related at both the individual and regional level. Findings indicate that individuals with greater personal social capital and those who live in regions with higher average levels of social capital are more likely to be political consumers. These results support previous findings that link social capital with other forms of civic engagement.