Abstract

The article tackles the questions of social capital transformation in developed countries. The author considers the role played by human rights in this process, form several points of view, including the influence of the human rights on traditional interpersonal forms and institutions of social capital, as well as the role of human rights in broad forms of social capital transformation. The author does not limit his thinking to – almost ubiquitously admitted in social sciences – questions of depletion of social capital but also considers the less accepted issues of reconstruction of social capital. Several conclusions are drawn. First, the human rights, among other factors, have contributed to the deterioration of social capital. Second, human rights have also contributed to construction of social capital, especially the broad forms of social capital. Moreover, the author advances the idea that if the traditional interpersonal forms of social capital were depleted under the influence of several factors, the human rights played almost exclusive role in construction of broad forms of social capital.