Modern Identification and Student's Social Capital

The aim of this article is to investigate the relationship between the students’ identity and type of their social capital. Having reviewed the theoretical and experimental literature of these two factors, the study uses the definition of "identity" as proposed by Anthony Giddens and the definition of "social capital" as proposed by Stone and Hughes. This study is a survey in which 381 students were selected randomly among students studying in different programs in public universities of Tabriz in the academic year of 2010 – 2011. Findings reveal that the number of students with modern identity who have lower levels of social capital is more than those with traditional identity and average or higher levels of social capital. Analysis of data shows that students with traditional identity have higher levels of social capital compared to students with modern identity. In fact, as students become more modern, the amount of their social capital decreases. Based on the results, urban-raised students have higher levels of institutional social capital while students with rural background have higher levels of individual social capital.