Investigating the role of social security in the social capital of Iranian rural citizens with the mediating effect of psychological security (Case study: heads of rural households in Hashtrood County)

No emotion would exist without social relation and interaction. In social sciences, the feeling of freedom to perform social interactions and activities is known as the sense of social security. Since this sense originates from people’s experiences and interpretations, correct and incorrect experience and interpretation of social conditions may give people a true or false sense of security. Regardless of its accuracy, people’s perception of their own social environment or that of others may induce a feeling of insecurity. Another important multidisciplinary concept of particular interest to humanities scholars is the notion of social capital. This concept contributes to the social and economic analysis of rural developments by explaining the role played in this regard by local resources available to rural settlements such as human relationships, networks, and institutions in social structures. The present study aimed to investigate the role of social security in the social capital and the mediating role that psychological security of citizens may play in this regard in rural areas of Hashtrood County, Iran. The study was applied in its objective and a descriptive survey in its methodology. From the population, which consisted of rural households residing in Hashtrood County, a sample of 440 rural households was formed through stratified random sampling. The sample size was calculated using Cochran’s formula. The research instrument was a standard questionnaire, the validity of which was confirmed in advance by content validity analysis and Cronbach’s alpha method. Research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling with the help of Amos. The results showed, at 95% confidence level, that social security has a significant positive impact on social capital and psychological security of rural citizens. It was also found that the psychological security of these citizens mediates the impact of social security on social capital. K e y w o r d s: social security, social capital, psychological security, rural, Hashtrood County Introduction By the end of modernity and arrival of postmodern era, the concept of development underwent an evolution that further expanded the already vast array of concepts related to this issue. According to the new definition, real development is not a unidimensional issue but instead requires consistent progress in several dimensions. One of the concepts formed and developed during this era is the notion of social capital (Afrakhte University of Mohaghegh Ardabili Journal of Geography and Spatial Justice Received:2018/01/07 accepted:2018/03/07 101 Journal of Geography and Spatial Justice. Year 1th Vol. 1 Issue. 1Winter 2018 et al., 2014: 28). The current social systems theories regard social capital as a basic input for growth and development. This definition covers different aspects, including rural and urban socioeconomic development and management improvement in different fields at both micro and macro levels. One of the prerequisites for the comprehensive growth and development of the society is the growth of social coherence, social participation, and person-society-state trust (Rostamelizadeh and Firoozabadi, 2011: 7). Almost all countries have experienced periods of instability, chaos, crisis, and war during their history. Many ethnic, racial and religious groups that have lived together in the tumultuous political and social structures of the past now face the challenge of achieving and maintaining social security. In recent decades, the issue of social security has been a topic of interest to scientific and research communities, partly because of its inherent importance, but more importantly because of catalyzing or adverse role that the sense of social security can play in the development of communities (Hosseini, 2007, 55). Social security is a state in which a particular group of hazards are addressed or the involved risks are minimized (Giddens, 2008, 13). One of the primary factors that promote social security and thus social wellbeing, peace, and desirability is social capital. Social capital is a component of civil society that is derived from the everyday engagement of people, and is the source from which social connections and networks are formed based on the principles of trust, cooperation, and rules of social interaction. The importance of social capital stems partly from its involvement with the sense of security in society and especially the psychological security of citizens (Lindstrom et al., 2003, 1116). In recent years, a growing number of studies have emphasized the importance of social capital for achieving rural development because of the essential role played by the components of social capital like social cohesion, social participation, and most importantly mutual trust (between individuals and state) in the development of rural communities. When speaking about economic problems, it is very common to attribute the issues to the lack of physical capital, and overlook the association of social capital with the problems. This is while social capital is very important, perhaps more than any other capital, for dealing with situations such as “stagflation”, which require “trust building”, as well as many other unresolved social issues that may obstruct the path to development (Seidayi et al., 2009: 190). In this regard, one cannot ignore the association of the level of activity, participation, and trust of rural citizens with the economic and social development process and the exploitation of social capital. In today’s world, one capital cannot be exploited optimally without the others, thus, the issue of social capital is widely regarded as a key prerequisite for development, and those managers who manage to generate and mobilize greater social capital in their relations with the society are considered more successful. The question that the present study seeks to answer is that, with the psychological security of citizens considered as a possibly mediating factor, what is the effect of social security on social capital? To answer this question, the study aims to determine the effect of social security on social capital in rural areas of Hashtrood, with the possible impact of psychological security of rural citizens taken into account. Research background Although the advent of social security as a scientific concept dates back to the earliest period of World War II, the issue of social security has always been one of the main concerns of human societies and political systems (Zakeri, Afshani, and Asgari Nadoushan, 2012, 20). In a study by Radadi (2008) on the social capital and social security in Iran, he stated that improving social security requires close attention to social capital. He added that the accumulation of social capital over time facilitates crime prevention and that in the Iranian religious communities, strengthening the religious trust-building norms can effectively increase Investigating the role of social security in the social capital of Iranian rural citizens. 102 the social capital. Mir and Khalilzadeh (2015) investigated the role of social capital in the sense of security in the Lorestan province of Iran. In this study, social capital, which was examined in structural, cognitive, and relational dimensions, was found to affect all four dimensions of security. This study reported that social capital has a correlation with the security in its economic (0.28), political (0.23), psychosocial (0.21), and legal (0.51) dimensions. A study conducted by Najibi Rabiee (2004) on the factors influencing the social security reported that 62% of all respondents felt moderately secure, but regardless of the type of capital, most respondents were feeling insecure in terms of their lives. This study reported that 35%, 56%, and 13% of the respondents had respectively low, moderate, and high sense of life security, while 40%, 47%, and 13% of the respondents had respectively low, moderate, and high sense of financial security. The statistical tests of this study showed that social capital has a significant correlation with the sense of psychological, financial and collective security. Different forms of capital and social class were also found to be related to the level of psychological security. The regression test conducted in this study showed that the combination of economic, social, educational and occupational capital variables could explain some of the changes in the sense of psychological security. In a study carried out by Jackson (2007), the respondents who had a more authoritative view about law and order and those who were concerned about long-term social deviations were more likely to perceive disorder in the environment. These respondents were also more likely to associate physical signs to the community problems, the social cohesion issues, and the deteriorating quality of social bonds and informal social control. Research on social capital has shown its impacts in several dimensions. For example, it has been shown that young people’s access to social capital can reduce the social and behavioral problems. Based on this finding, making sure that young people learn social interaction, social skills and teamwork can reduce social vulnerabilities and risk factors and lead to improvement in academic achievement and wellbeing (Kreuter and Linz, 2002, 291). In a research by Turkomani (2006), he approached the issue of social capital from the religious perspective. This study argued that the cause of the decline of social capital in Iran is less related to economic or cultural factors and more rooted in the state’s organizational weakness and its poor relationship with social forces. The present research is the first to examine the relationship of social security with social capital in rural areas of the region, and is therefore different from previous works, which have been mostly focused on urban areas. The results will show that social