An analysis of Manisa salihli district under social capital factor and rural development activities of Turkey

As in majority of countries worldwide, rural areas constitute a considerable part of Republic of Turkey. The exact definition of rural areas is inexistent in Turkish legislation and due to this it has not been possible to successfully implement rural development policies. In spite of this, the government subsidies and international fund subsidies were actively used in attempts of fixing problems in rural development. Until early 1980's Rural development approaches were mainly modernization in agriculture and government interventions, however on following years; sustainable social and rural development, free market, transparency, rapid and affiliative rural development and well-maintained mutual management in sustainable rural development, approaches have been added. Addition of these concepts have made room for integrative rural development policies which consists of usage of local resources along with agricultural resources together rather than traditional agricultural approach. Social capital is another topic of the analysis in addition to rural development. Social capital is based on unity and mutual trust among people. Social capital realizes the potential of working for common interests in a community by utilizing its cooperative capacity. It is not only an indicator of social development but also a strong economic indicator. As an abstract term, it is defined by several scientists and institutions as a type of capital which includes trust, mutuality, networks and norms. In context of this study, it is determined that which dimensions of social capital can be considered as a factor with significant results for Salihli rural region using SPSS statistical software. Accordingly, usage of landing and memberships to various groups of households have been evaluated under social capital dimensions.