On the relationship between social capital and political alienation among the citizens of Tehran city

The extent of political consensus and not feeling politically alienated by the citizens are considered as the crucial variables of political stability.Various micro and macro-level factors can potentially make citizens feel politically alienated. The role of social capital could be mentioned as one of those influential factors. Enjoying variables like social trust, social cohesion and social participation, social capital can have a notable impact on the relationship which exists among citizens, government and the political system and consequently will result in the political efficacy of the governing board.The purpose of current study is to examine the relationship between social capital and political alienation using a questionnaire for collecting information. The research population involves citizens of Tehran city, from which, 384 individuals were selected as the sample population. By taking social trust, social participation and social cohesion into consideration, this study has investigated political alienation by means of Schwartz Value Scale and social capital through a questionnaire designed by the researcher. The findings indicate that the average level of social trust, especially at the institutional trust level, is lower among other variables of social capital. At the level of social trust, 99 percent of correlation was found between two variables of social trust and political alienation. Moreover, by applying Pearson Correlation Coefficient, it appeared that the variables are correlated but a meaningful regression is existed.The findings show that social trust, among other variables of social capital, has the most correlation with citizens' political alienation.