Demographic Linkages between Rural and Urban Areas and Its Impact on Creating Social Capital (Case study: Damavand, Firouzkoh, Shemiranat)

Part of rural-urban interactions is the flow of people which is considered as a key element. Social life flows into a network of social relations, this network embodies within spatial separation of social groups –the result of accumulation of time, place and social relations. This research investigates the impact of demographic linkages between rural and urban areas on social capital. For achieving this aim, in the first step, the most important indicators of social capital were gathered based on the literature review. Then, according to Cochran formula, 377 questionnaires were responded randomly. The samples of this study were selected radomly from 7 districts and 26 villages located in Damavand, Firuzkoh, and Shemiranat. The main methods to analyze the collected data were network analysis and cross- impact analysis; the results of these methods led to the determination of impacts demographic linkages on creation of social capital. The density index was almost 60% in Damavand, Firuzkoh, and Shemirant. The reciprocity and transferability indices were almost 50% and 60%, respectively. After checking demographic linkage among rural and urban settlements, we analyzed indicators of social capital. We analyzed the results based on the t- test in network analysis framework by UCINET. The results and significance level suggest demographic linkages among the settlements led to social capital at 95% confidence level. Social capital indicator averages (participation and cooperation, compatibility and coexistence, social relations, social identity, trust, and commitment), were higher than average level (almost 3/5 base on Likert Scale) and this result suggests the studied indicators are acceptable.