The role of social capital in regional development: The case of Zonguldak province

In recent years, the concept of social capital has been widely used in economics as well as in the fields of political science and sociology. In this context, the number of studies on social capital, which is considered as an important tool in the development and particularly in the regional development, is increasing. In this study, the level and determinants of social capital, which is stated to have an important role in regional development, have been tried to be determined in the case of Zonguldak which is a very old city with serious development problems. For this purpose, the field study was applied to a sample mass of 900 people composed of individuals who reside in Zonguldak province. The survey used in the field study was prepared in the format of 5-point Likert scale by using the indicators used in determining the social capital in the international literature. These indicators are defined as confidence index, network index and mutual assistance and common cooperation index. In this study, firstly the social capital level was determined in Zonguldak and then the relationship between the factors such as education, occupation, income level and place of birth with the level of social capital was revealed by chi-square test. According to the results of the field study, the trust index of individuals in Zonguldak province center was found to be moderate, the index of participation in official and informal networks was very low, the mutual aid and joint cooperation index was high and the general social capital index was low. In addition, interesting results such as decreasing social capital level with increasing age and education level were obtained. These results reveal the necessity of developing policies to increase the level of social capital in Zonguldak and implementing them rapidly. In this context, first of all, studies should be carried out to improve the sense of belonging in the province, accordingly structures and institutions that will increase social organization and cooperation should be established.