Self‐help Groups and Social Capital: New Directions in Welfare Policies?

Abstract

The paper discusses a national survey on social capital arising from self‐help/mutual‐help groups operating in the field of alcohol‐related problems and affiliated to a large umbrella organization—well known in the Italian welfare system. Comparison between subjects just beginning the group therapy process and those with long‐term participation in self‐help groups shows significant differences in many aspects of social capital: participation in the local community; proactivity in the social context; family, friends and neighbourhood connections; tolerance of diversity; value placed on life; and work connections. In general, people with long‐term experience of self‐help groups seem to achieve better scores in social capital than do younger participants, and compared with a significant sample of the Italian (general) population as well. This result seems to indicate that active engagement in their recovery by people experiencing alcohol‐related social exclusion may produce impressive improvements not only in their individual quality of life (more health, more trust, more self‐esteem) but also in their community inclusion and civic commitment: more social relationships in the family, neighbourhood and at work, participation in civic and voluntary associations, and in educational programmes, including social work education.