Social Capital and Development in Hormozgan Province from the Perspective of the Elites

Subject Areas : Iranian Sociological Review

Mohammad Ashineh ¹ , Soroush Fathi ^{2 *} , Tahmours Shiri ³ , Hedayatullah Nikkhah ⁴

1 - Ph.D. Student of Sociology, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
2 - Associate Professor of Sociology, West Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
3 - Associate Professor of Sociology, Central Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran
4 - Assistant Professor, Department of Social Sciences, Hormozgan University, Bandar Abbas, Iran

Received: 2021-08-20 Accepted : 2021-08-20 Published : 2021-09-01

Keywords:

Abstract :

It is typical that social capital is essential and necessary in order to develop any society. Social capital is highly significant in the economic and social development of a society that it is possible to observe it distinctly in the field of economic prosperity in all developed societies. We know that social capital is highly significant in recent decades and also consider its influential role on economic and social development, accordingly, this study aims to explain sociologically the influence of social capital on economic and social development of Hormozgan province. We applied the qualitative method for this study and also used the in-depth interview technique in order to achieve the under-consideration questions. The main structure of the interview includes eight main questions that we asked of 32 legal and natural persons, including specialists, professors, experts, officials, and private sector activists in the province. We are able to explain according to the interviewees' opinions that the out-group social capital of Hormozgan is at a low level because of the traditional, religious context and in-group associations, attention to localism, etc.; this is caused by the presence of strong in-group connections between citizens. According to network theory, weak ties (Granovetter) and also in-group and out-group social capital of Putnum, strong, in-group ties limit relationships and, consequently, development was not met.