The Relationship between Access to Cultural Services and Artistic Goods with Social Capital and Its Dimensions (Research Subjects: Isfahani Citizens)

One of the most well-known concepts in the social sciences in recent years is the concept of capital. Pierre Bourdieu, the French sociologist, believes that “if we want to have the grasp of social world, we should introduce the idea of capital, its accumulation and impression to the social world, again” (Bourdieu, 2005:405). However, a revolutionary change took place in the concept of capital in recent decades and concept of new capitals have been introduced. Therefore, this concept has become more prevalent and entered into many areas of social life. Among new capitals, cultural and social capitals together with mechanism of changing such capitals into one another played an important role in experimental and theoretical investigations in sociological studies (Fazeli, 2003). Bourdieu believed that “the class structure of developed countries is not determined only by the economy but social and cultural capital and their relationship with one another should be considered as well” (Bourdieu, 2005:408). Therefore, the present study aims at investigating the relationship between access to cultural services and artistic goods with social capital and its dimensions among isfahani citizens.

This is a descriptive correlational study regarding data collection, cross sectional regarding time and extensive regarding depth. Statistical population of the study are citizens of region 14 of the municipal districts of Isfahan city, in the age range of 20 to 64 years old. 400 individuals among these citizens were selected using cluster sampling method to answer research questions, which were included in a researcher-made questionnaire.

In order to consider the main research question, first theoretical basis of the study was established. By focusing on the phenomenon of cultural turn and increasingly important role of culture in society, we argued that social and cultural capitals are also important as part of the cultural turn in the social and cultural development of the city. Then, views of the most influential theorists of social and cultural capitals such as Pierre Bourdieu and Robert Putnam were introduced. Bourdieu believes that social and cultural capitals have the ability to be transformed into one another in addition to economic capital. Although there will be some problems on the way of such transformations. Findings of the study show that there is not a significant relationship between access to artistic goods and cultural services with social capital. However, examination of other hypotheses of the study shows that there is significant (reverse and direct) relationship between access to artistic goods, cultural services and components of social capital such as feeling of security, social participation, social cohesion and civic participation. Generally speaking, the current study is not a proof of cultural turn and it does not confirm the view of Bourdieu regarding ability of capital to be transformed. It shows that there is not a meaningful relationship between access to artistic goods, cultural services and the three dimensions of social capital among citizens of Isfahan city. The results show that research variables are not suitable at the explanatory level. However, regarding the access to artistic goods and cultural services, according to the evaluated standard values of gamma coefficient, the scales of use of cultural artistic devices and facilities with the coefficient of 0.627, work creation with the coefficient 0.572 and ownership of artistic cultural goods with the coefficient of 0.390 have the highest correlations. Regarding dimensions of social capital, social norms with the load factor of 1.018, social trust with the load factor of 0.613 and social networks with the load factor of -0.932, correlations amount to structural grades of social capital.