Social Capital and Intergenerational Exchange

What we have learned from REPRINTS and Suzaka city

Abstract

This study discusses the relationship between social capital and intergenerational exchange (1)based on the qualitative and quantitative surveys in Suzaka City, Nagano Prefecture, and REPRINTS (the program in which senior citizens read picture books to schoolchildren), and (2) by considering the conditions under which intergenerational exchange activities can be sustained over time. It is difficult to generate and sustain intergenerational exchange by relying on market mechanisms. Therefore, interventions (some kind of organizations or nonprofit systems) that utilizes the social capital that has traditionally existed in the region can facilitate intergenerational exchanges.