Investigating the amount of social capital among the marginal residents of Ahvaz city

Dissertation to receive the master's degree "M.A"

Field: Social Sciences

Treatment: Demography

Abstract

The purpose of this research is to investigate the amount of social capital among the marginal residents of Ahvaz city. 400 people have been selected as the sample size using a multi-stage cluster sampling method. The unit of analysis is the individual. The data collection method is It is a survey in which "researcher's questionnaire" was used to measure the variables and gather information. Field method, questionnaire and interview were used to collect the data. After checking the validity and validity of the questionnaire, they were analyzed using spss software. In order to check the significance between the variables and non-parametric correlation tests that are used for quantitative variables, the tested hypotheses were analyzed. The results show that the variables, the lack of facilities Welfare, poverty, lack of suitable jobs, imposed war, lack of organized institutions have played an important role in the formation of marginalization in Ahvaz city. A positive and direct relationship has been observed between dependent variables.

Key words: social capital - trust - participation - marginalization of Ahvaz

Introduction

Today, in addition to human, financial and economic capital, another capital called social capital is exploited. This concept is Links refer to the communication between members of a network as a valuable resource. By creating norms and mutual trust, it leads to the realization of members' goals. Social capital as a lever has also been favored. In the traditional views of development management, economic, physical and human capital played the most important role. But in today's era, we need social capital for development more than we need economic, physical and human capital. Because without this capital, the use of other capitals will not be done optimally. In a society that lacks enough social capital, other capitals will be left behind and wasted. From these two issues, social capital [1] as a It is considered a central principle to achieve development and successful managers are considered to be able to achieve more production and development of social capital in cooperation with the society. The complexity of life in today's modern societies has caused social relations and the extent and manner of people's participation in social networks to affect the quality and quantity of all social and economic activities. Among these, social capital is one of the main components. Social capital is an abstract, hybrid, complex and interdisciplinary concept and its wide application in urban management, economics, organizational behavior, politics, public health, criminology, rural development, good governance, urban planning, etc. It shows its great potential for analyzing various phenomena in society. One of these phenomena is marginalization, which, according to some researchers, is considered appendicitis in most cities of the world, including Iran. Marginalization, which in a large scale and in the modern sense has been the product of the conditions after the industrial revolution in the industrialized countries of Europe and America, caused large migrations from rural areas and small towns to industrial and developed centers, and this provided the basis for the emergence of the first marginals. In Iran, after the entry and establishment of dependent capitalism, the phenomenon of marginalization arose and its growth intensified mainly from 1320 onwards (Zahed, Zahedani, 1369). In addition to disrupting the physical space of cities, the mushroom growth of the outskirts provides the basis for various problems and social damage in cities, and one of the reasons for these problems is the lack of social capital in such areas. For example, Robert Putnam [2] in an article titled "Affluent Society, Social Capital and Public Life" states that one of the reasons for the failure of the American government in revitalizing poor neighborhoods is the erosion of social capital in these areas. He also believes that part of the problem of blacks and Latinos in the inner city is that they do not benefit from "communications" in the true sense (Putnam, 2014). Also, in his opinion, in neighborhoods where social capital is formed, social issues such as addiction, crime, etc. are less; In other words, social capital at the neighborhood level will increase neighborhood security and reduce crimes (Bastani, 2007). In fact, social capital through its components such as "trust, participation, social networks, etc." It can reduce these issues and problems in the neighborhood.. Because the presence of marginalized people in the complex networks of modern society as well as their organized and spontaneous participation can facilitate the process of local development. In other words, the more the members of a certain society, such as the marginal residents, have more and more colorful presence in the network of social relations, and at the same time, this presence is combined with trust and conscious participation, it can lead to the economic, social and physical development of the neighborhood. However, according to many researchers, we are faced with the non-participation of the residents in the marginal areas, which is the unfavorable economic situation and the high mobility of the population, which can result in the erosion of social capital. In terms of employment and income, most people live in an unfavorable economic situation, which is another factor in non-participation (Naqdi, 2016). Therefore, since the erosion of social capital in these deprived areas can cause all kinds of harm and social issues such as addiction, sale and consumption of drugs, alcohol, corruption and prostitution, poverty, unemployment, fights and conflicts, gambling and so on. and also cause the failure of the government's construction plans to improve the physical, social, economic and cultural condition of the state, therefore, increasing this type of capital in these areas can reduce the damage and help the government to implement the plans. Therefore, this research examines the amount of social capital in the peripheral areas of Ahvaz city. Considering that Ahvaz is one of the metropolises of the country and the second largest city with a marginal population (a third of the country's population), and the potential and actual population can fuel many social issues, it is hoped that this research can provide new solutions to the planners. 1-2. Statement of the problem and the importance of the issue.

         After the Second World War, one of the most important social issues in developing countries has been the rapid and heterogeneous growth and development of urbanization. It is obvious that the explosive growth of urbanization and the subsequent growth of the phenomenon of marginalization is the result of continuous internal migrations, i.e. from villages to cities, whose economic, social and physical reflection is the growth of marginalized groups and communities that appear in different areas of metropolitan cities in various forms of shack-dwelling, slum-dwelling, shanty-dwelling and shantytowns, etc. What makes the study of this issue important is the migration of a class of rural society who are at a low level in terms of capital, education and income, and due to these conditions, they will be vulnerable in the urban environment. In addition, the immigrant group creates a way of life that is different from the three common ways of life, i.e. urban, rural and rural. In addition, new immigrants create a certain physical texture according to their social and economic characteristics (Hosseinzadeh Delir, 1370: 64). In the new way of life (the life of the marginalized), the family also has a certain level of importance, form and framework.

In these areas, either social capital has not been formed yet or it exists at a particularistic and intra-group level (negative aspect). Not only will this particularistic social capital not play a role in the development of regions, but in most cases it is considered as an obstacle to all-round development. Therefore, considering the importance of social capital in reducing social problems and harms, as well as the all-round development of these areas, in this research, an attempt has been made to review the problem of marginalization and its related statistics in the world and especially in Iran, and to address the role of social capital in reducing the problem of marginalization and the social damage caused by it.

Given that Ahvaz is one of the big cities of the country and the phenomenon of marginalization is one of the problems of big cities in the country. Let's examine the social capital among the marginal residents of the city. Based on this, the main question of research and investigation is what are the factors affecting the social capital among the marginal residents of Ahvaz city?