Approach of Cultural Geography to the Role of Religion in Social Capital

Social capital has been considered as one of the most important social issues and potential of people power by many scholars. According to many experts، it is one of many factors that play a role in increasing the social capital of the community، religious people. This study examines the role of religion in social capital will be discussed. This is a comparative study between urban and rural areas and between the two communities in Kouhdasht city social capital and its effect on increasing religiosity is analyzed. This paper describes research methods - analysis and documentation methods for data collection and field use. Thus، a total of 400 questionnaires were collected and prepared in urban، rural areas، and Kouhdasht. For data analysis، it was performed using SPSS statistical software. Depending on the parameters of the Pearson correlation test was used to test and independent T-Test. Also in this study، the five dimensions of religiosity (intellectual، doctrinal، ritual، experiential and outcome) and social capital in four dimensions (trust، confidence، official، public participation and informal participation) has been studied. The results indicate that the religious dimensions of social capital، there are significant differences between urban and rural areas. The impact of religion on social capital in rural areas than urban areas is increasing.