Relation of Social Capital and Tendency Towards Modernity (Case of Study: Grogan’s Citizens)

Social capital has become one of the most important topics among thinkers in various branches of social sciences and humanities in recent decades. The purpose of this study is to identify the impact of social capital and its dimensions on the tendency towards modernity in Gorgan. The research method was survey, the data were collected by field method, the population included citizens living in Gorgan, 401 of whom were selected and studied by stratified random sampling. The research instrument was a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity was confirmed by its face validity and reliability using Cronbach's alpha coefficient (0.879). To test the hypotheses, advanced statistical techniques and methods appropriate to the level of measurement of variables were used. The results showed that there is a positive and significant relationship between the components of social capital and the tendency towards modernity among the citizens of Gorgan. Also, the impact of social capital on the tendency towards modernity is greater than economic capital. Coherence is the most important component in social capital and Relationship instead of rules is the most important dimension in modernity. There is a significant relationship between social capital and its components (trust, participation, security, cohesion) and the tendency towards modernity. The variable of participation has an inverse effect on modernity, there is a significant relationship between the types of social capital (cognitive and structural) and the tendency to modernity, and structural social capital is a more important factor in the changes of modernity. There is also a significant relationship between the variables of gender (men), level of education, ethnicity and occupation with the tendency towards modernity, while there is no significant relationship between religion and the tendency towards modernity.