Investigating the Role of Social capital in Political and Social Development of Iran after Islamic Revolution

Development in terms of affirming the world of politics in Iran society after the Islamic Revolution is the most important concern of researchers. The current study investigated the effect of social capital on the social and political development of Iran after Islamic Revolution with an emphasis on the academic community of Tehran city. The statistical population of this research included the university community of Tehran. The sample volume was determined 384 individuals using Cochran sampling formula having 95% confidence level; however, considering the desire of the supervisor, 600 individuals were selected to this end using the simple random sampling method. To test the research model, a standardized social capital questionnaire (Nahapiet & Ghoshal, 1998) and a researcher-made questionnaire of the role of social capital in social-political development were utilized in administering the survey of the current research. The results obtained from testing hypotheses indicated that there was a correlation between social-political development and various dimensions of social capital among the academic community of Tehran city. In the case of ranking the correlation between social capital dimensions and social-political development, it could be stated that the highest correlation (r=0.621) was between the cognitive dimension of social capital (cooperation and values); further rankings included respectively, structural dimension (networks and relations) (r=0.509), and communicational dimension (mutual understanding, confidence, and commitment) (r=0.476). Considering the results, it could be mentioned that social capital had a determining role in the social and political development of Iran after Islamic Revolutionary.