Social Capital and Awareness of Sustainable Development (Case Study: Citizens of Meshgin-Shahr)

participation is an important factor in sustainable development. To this end, people should be informed about sustainable development. However, components of civil society, particularly, social capital, couldn't pave the way for knowledge growth about SD. In the study reported in this paper, the researcher scrutinized the relationship between awareness of SD and social capital in a real circumstance in Meshgin-Shahr. To approach the aims of this survey-based investigation, a researcher-made questionnaire was utilized to gather data from over 18 years old. 382 people were selected as the sample of the study, by applying the random cluster sampling method. The descriptive results of the investigation revealed that people's awareness of SD with an average of 4.1 (reference 1-6) is satisfactory and above the average. Also, there is a significant relationship between ″SD awareness″ and two-dimension of social capital, namely ″contact with people″ as well as ″reciprocal norms″. There is not a significant relationship between another dimension of social capital e.g. ″social trust″ and SD awareness. According to regression, 36 percent of the changes in the dependent variable relies on ″contact with people″ and ″reciprocal norms″. To improve the awareness of SD the knowledge about it should be transmitted between people and in their networks. Moreover, an increase in ″social reliance″ is a prerequisite in knowledge growth about SD.