Measuring and Comparing Social Capital Components of Members and Non-Members of Rural Production Cooperatives

This study is to analyze which factors of social capital are more effective than others to ease and accelerate cooperation among members of Rural Production Cooperative in order to implement rural developmental programs in Mazandaran province of Iran. This was a descriptive- correlation study is a survey type. The population in the study consisted of 5746 farmers in Mazandaran province, By a proportional stratified random sampling technique, 362 farmers of the population were chosen as our sample. A questionnaire was designed to gather data needed for the study. The finding of this study indicates that, there was a significant difference between members and non- members regarding bridging social capital components. Exchange of information between communities, trust to institutions, measure of awareness and formal relationship networks were the most important factors that distinguish two groups and make 71.2 % of population distinctive. This reaearch shows that Members of Rural Production Cooperative have more bridging social capital than non-members.