This publication is a text of considerable importance in the study of the interconnected topics of trust and social capital, as it manages to combine an in-depth analysis of the theories about the aforementioned concepts developed by two renowned social scientists (Putnam and Fukuyama ) – but including specific references to other important scholars (Banfield, Bourdieu, Simmel, Sztompka, etc.) – with an innovative and original approach which connects them to the most recent political, social, economic, technological and even “epidemiological” developments in the European history. In doing so, this work revitalises topics which are always important in themselves from a sociological point of view, also considering that the results of the empirical studies carried out by the authors turn out to be rather singular and unexpected, refuting prejudicial conjectures on the attitude that could be expected from the different segments of the Polish society regarding these issues.