Explicative connections between development and social capital: Pilot study with two comparative cases

Abstract

The central hypothesis is the idea that there are prerequisites that are necessary for development to occur, these are: the potential organizational, social integration (identity and community consciousness, generation and distribution of social capital) and social mobility. The study constituted a pilot study, which involved the urban population of two cities in the Rio Grande do Sul state which have different levels of development and economic growth: the counties of Santa Cruz do Sul and Cachoeira do Sul. It was made a historical description of the general characteristics of land tenure, industrialization and structural change. It was also carried out a research on the organizational potential of the region, which involved basically the study and the identification of the presence of so-called complex organizations. Finally the social integration (indicator of social capital) was measured through the classic survey of attitudes. With respect to the indicators of the presence of social capital (associations and social integration) we observed a poor presence in both contexts. The results partially corroborate the hypotheses.