Religious capital and social capital in Iran: a within national comparative analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Department of Sociology, Imam Khomeini and Islamic Revolution Research Institute, Tehran, Iran

Abstract

In the sociological literature, religious congregations (such as mosques, hosseiniyehs, religious groups, home prayer meetings, etc.) are considered as one of the important sources of social capital. People with high religious capital who actively participate in religious congregations and collective rituals usually find new friends from neighbors and other co-religionists and often and most likely in They are subjected to continuous or occasional interaction with them and receive special support, which is truly considered a valuable capital for them. In the present research, first, the arguments related to the relationship between religious capital and social capital were somehow combined with each other to lead to the conclusion of a hypothesis that can be verified empirically. Then, with the analysis unit of "county" and using secondary data, the validity of the research hypothesis was experimentally tested in Iran with the within national comparative method. In the end, the findings related to the empirical test of the mentioned hypothesis showed that even when the effects of various development indicators are controlled and eliminated, religious capital can still encourage social capital in Iran.

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