Social Capital Analysis of Members of the Rural Development Fund Case Study: Rural settlements of Qasr-e Qand County

Subject Areas : Regional Planning

majid saeidirad ¹ , asad razani ² , naghi asgari ³ , ali ranjbaraki ⁴

1 - Ph.D. in Geography and Rural Planning, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran.
2 - Instructor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Institute of Humanities and Social Studies, Tehran, Iran
3 - Assistant Professor, Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Institute of Humanities and Social Studies, Tehran, Iran
4 - Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Institute of Humanities and Social Studies, Tehran, Iran

Received: 2020-04-09 Accepted : 2021-07-21 Published : 2023-04-21

Keywords: Key words: Social Capital, Development Fund, Empowering Project, Qasr-e Qand County,

Abstract :

Considering the essential role of social sustainability in achieving the objectives of sustainable rural development in the territory As well as the importance of social capital and its indicators in the sustainability of economic structures and organizations, this study aimed to analyze the amount of social capital among members of rural development funds of Qasr-e Qand county. This study is an applied research and its research method is descriptive-analytical. The statistical population of this study includes all members of Rural Development Funds in 30 target villages of Qasr-e Qand county with 1763 members that through random combination sampling and Cochran formula, 340 members were considered as sample population. The research data were obtained through library and field studies and analyzed by SPSS software using one-sample t-test and Pearson correlation. The findings of this study show that the amount of social capital among members of Rural Development Funds is (3.1) moderate. At this stage, the index of trust (3.3) is in the most appropriate situation and the index of social participation (3.2) (especially women's participation) and the impact of support structures (2.8) are in the weakest situation. Also, the results of Pearson correlation test indicate the existence of a positive and significant internal correlation (Sig = 0.000) of four indicators of social trust, social participation, support structures and social cohesion among members of development funds in rural settlements of Qasr-e Qand County. Therefore, it is necessary to provide rural good governance with appropriate policy and cooperation of rural development agencies and support structures, especially the Alavi Foundation for Members' Trust, Cohesion and Community Participation, in the future to see the development and productivity of rural development funds at the level of rural settlements of Qasr-e Qand county.
Key words: Social Capital, Development Fund, Empowering Project, Qasr-e Qand County

References:

1. Azkia, M., Ghaffari, Gh. (2013) Rural Development with Emphasis on Rural Society of Iran. Tehran, Ney Publication. [In Persian].


2. Asadpour, A., Entezari, A., Ahmadi Ahank, K. (2018). Formal and Informal Social Participation and Factors Affecting it (A Study in The City of Amol). Journal of Applied Sociology, 29(3), 67-86.


3. Bongomin, G. O. C., Ntayi, J. M., Munene, J. C., & Nabeta, I. N. (2016). Social capital: mediator of financial literacy and financial inclusion in rural Uganda. Review of International Business and Strategy.


4. Coleman, J. S. (1988). Social capital in the creation of human capital. American journal of sociology, 94, S95-S120.


5. Couton, P., & Gaudet, S. (2008). Rethinking social participation: The case of immigrants in Canada. Journal of International Migration and Integration/Revue de l'integration et de la migration internationale, 9(1), 21-44.


6. Cvetkovich, G., & Löfstedt, R. (Eds.). (1999). Social trust and the management of risk. London: Earthscan.


7. Do Carmo, R. M. (2010). Albernoa revisited: tracking social capital in a portuguese village. Sociologia Ruralis, 50(1), 15-30.


8. Encyclopedia of Urban and Rural Management (2009). Tehran, Publications of the Organization of Municipalities and Rural Affairs. [In Persian].


9. Fukuyama, F. (2001). Social capital, civil society and development. Third world quarterly, 22(1), 7-20.


10. Ghorbani M, Salari F, Khorasani M A. (2016). Analysis of social capital of rural micro-credit fund Case: Bstaq village in Sarayan County. Serd, 5 (15) ,125-146


11. Ghaffari, Gh., Habibpour Gotabi, K. (2015) Social policies, conceptual and theoretical foundations. Tehran, Tehran University Press. [In Persian].


12. Jenson, J. (2010). Defining and measuring social cohesion (No. 1). Commonwealth Secretariat.


13. Kearns, A., & Forrest, R. (2000). Social cohesion and multilevel urban governance. Urban studies, 37(5-6), 995-1017.


14. Khanh, H. L. P. (2011). The Role of Social Capital to Access Rural Credit: A case study at Dinh Cu and Van Quat Dong village in coastal of Thua Thien Hue province-Vietnam. Department of Urban and Rural Development, Swedish University of Agricultural sciences (Doctoral dissertation, MA Thesis).


15. Levien, M. (2015). Social capital as obstacle to development: Brokering land, norms, and trust in rural India. World Development, 74, 77-92.


16. Lorena, M. (2015). Social capital development in a rural women's micro-enterprise in Mexico: insights on leadership, trust and cooperation. Community Development Journal, 50(2), 229-243.


17. Magnani, N., & Struffi, L. (2009). Translation sociology and social capital in rural development initiatives. A case study from the Italian Alps. Journal of Rural Studies, 25(2), 231-238.


18. Marshall, T. H. (1964). Citizenship and Social Class. In T. H. Marshall & S. M. Lipset (Eds.) Class, Citizenship and Social Development (pp. 65–122). New York: Doubleday & Company.


19. malekan, A., khani, F., motiee langroodi, H., darban astaneh, A. (2020). The Impact of Social Capital on Improving Drought Resilience (Case Study: Kangaveh County Villages). Regional Planning, 10(38), 65-80.


20. Newton, K., Stolle, D., & Zmerli, S. (2018). Social and political trust. The Oxford handbook of social and political trust, 37-56.


21. O'Brien, S., & ó Fathaigh, M. (2005). Bringing in Bourdieu's theory of social capital: renewing learning partnership approaches to social inclusion. Irish Educational Studies, 24(1), 65-76.


22. Oxoby, R. (2009). Understanding social inclusion, social cohesion, and social capital. International Journal of Social Economics.


23. Piškur, B., Daniëls, R., Jongmans, M. J., Ketelaar, M., Smeets, R. J., Norton, M., & Beurskens, A. J. (2014). Participation and social participation: are they distinct concepts?. Clinical Rehabilitation, 28(3), 211-220


24. Putnam, R. D. (1994). Social capital and public affairs. Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 5-19.


25. Rankin, K. N. (2002). Social capital, microfinance, and the politics of development. Feminist economics, 8(1), 1-24.


26. Saeedi, A. (2010). Ten articles on recognizing rural settlements. Tehran, Mehr mino Publication. [In Persian].


27. Statistical Center of Iran (2016) General population and housing census of Qasr-e Qand County. . [In Persian].