Studying the effect of social capital on altruism in Tehran city

Altruism is a high social value and moral & social duty, so its weakness will lead to the social discipline disorders. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the study of how and why these actions occur in the society. By recognizing altruistic actions and the effective factors on its appearance, we can identify other cultural and social components and recognize moral and socio-cultural situations in the society. This research aims to identify the impact of different components of social capital on altruism in social relations in order to facilitate more altruistic aspects of development conditions as much as is necessary. In this document search study, by using secondary analysis, data was collected and analyzed from Iran University of Medical Sciences, World Health Organization, Tehran Municipality and Jihad University in form of "assessment tools and justice response in urban health" in all parishes of Tehran city on August- September 2008. About 20,670 citizens (over 18 years old) were selected and studied in this study. According to the results, people with high social capital are more altruistic than others. The results of regression due to social capital components such as social trust, formal partnership, informal partnership, social relationship, values and sense of belonging show that among social capital components only social trust, sense of belonging and informal partnership have a meaningful and positive effect on altruism. Regarding all independent variables, the components such as social trust, sense of belonging, informal partnership and education have meaningful and positive effects on altruism. The results show that social capital and its components have a significant effect on altruistic actions. Therefore, with strengthening social capital, some measures should be taken in order to develop a comprehensive and balanced personality and social system and to promote the level of society and personality system, ethical practices and more specifically altruistic actions increase.