Object of the research: social capital in the Ukrainian society. Subject of the research: structure, dynamics and sources of social capital, factors and mechanisms of formation and interaction of its various forms. Aim of the research: identification and conceptualization of factors and mechanisms of formation and conversion of social capital in the Ukrainian society, with the consideration of its structure, dynamics, and sources. Research methods: analysis and synthesis; historical analysis; comparative analysis; system analysis; typology; modelling; method of individual interview in face-to-face technique; analysis of variance; index method; correlation analysis; regression analysis; factor analysis. Theoretical and practical results: Sociological conceptualization of social capital as a resource of societal development and explication of factors and mechanisms of formation and conversion of various forms of social capital in Ukrainian society has been conducted. A solid characteristic of the latest trends in the dynamics of the development and the peculiarities of the factor conditionality of social capital in Ukraine, in particular in comparison with other countries, has been elaborated. Comprehensive assessment of the potential of civil society, the state, the institution of the family and the education system as the sources of social capital in Ukrainian society has been carried out. Novelty: an integrated author's definition of the concept of “social capital" as a set of social resources, determined by the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the interaction system, which are rooted in a certain historical, cultural, value and socio-political system and have the effect of increasing the effectiveness of interaction, has been developed; a conceptual scheme of the implementation and reproduction of social capital in a society, which emphasizes the interaction and interdependence of its four structural domains: social structure, cognitive-relational characteristics of interaction, individual characteristics that affect the interaction, factors of cultural-historical and political-economic environment, has been developed; a theoretically substantiated matrix of sources and functions of social capital featuring the following basic forms: bonding capital; bridging “informal” capital; bridging “formal” capital; linking capital has been developed; a theoretically substantiated matrix of indicators for the social capital empirical measurement based on the distinction of bonding, bridging, and linking forms of social capital and structural, cognitive and relational aspects of social capital and operationalization of this concept through 40 empirical indicators has been developed and tested. Degree of implementation: The obtained theoretical and empirical results contributed to the improvement of the teaching courses “Sociology. Fundamentals of Theory”, “Fundamentals of Communication Theory”, “Modern Sociological Theories”, which are taught to first and second year students majoring in “054-Sociology” of the educational and professional program “Social Communications, Advertising and Public Relations” at V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University.
