Leveling of rural centers based on the concept of social capital (Case study: villages of Minoudasht county)

According to many thinkers and development experts, the lack of social capital is one of the obstacles to development in different countries. Social capital is needed for development above all else. Due to the necessity of studying and examining this concept, especially in rural areas that are more deprived of developmental benefits, the present study deals with the leveling of rural centers in Minoudasht county on this basis. In this research, a descriptive-analytical method based on documentary and field studies (questioning) has been applied. The statistical population of the study is the total number of heads of households in which 370 people were estimated using the Cochran's sampling formula. The data obtained from the questionnaire were analyzed in the form of Vikor model and thus the studied villages were ranked and leveled. The spatial distribution of social capital at the rural center level indicates that the northwestern region has less social capital than other areas, including the center, south, southwest, and southeast. Also, the results of Pearson test show that there is a significant relationship between the components of population size and ethnic and linguistic diversity and geographical location with social capital. The relationship between population and ethnic-linguistic diversity is inversely related to social capital, and the relationship between geographical location and social capital is direct. There was no statistically significant relationship between the two components of income and literacy and social capital. Finally, in order to improve the level of social capital in the studied villages, this research suggests the following: holding group panels by local managers to explain the importance of social capital components, further monitoring the performance of local managers in building trust for villagers, strengthening social networks, and continuous education of villagers in order to accept social capital as an important factor in the development of local communities.