A Comparative Study of Social Capital and Quality of Life in Delhi and Tehran

Abstract

This is a comparative study of social capital's impact on quality of life in Delhi and Tehran. It aims to identify significant difference in impact of social capital on quality of life in Delhi and Tehran. It also aims to get optimum combination of social capital's cognitive and structural elements which have significant relationship with quality of life for both societies. For the purpose of research, the study has used positivistic methodology and deductive logic of inquiry. Furthermore, survey method along with Geographical Information System (GIS) has been used. As material a Household Schedule Interview Form (HSIF) and a Global Position System (GPS) device have been used for collecting the subjective and spatial data. To generate, analyze and obtain the operational model for social capital and quality of life in both societies, statistical and geographical multiple analysis methods have been used. As result multiple regressions indicate that in both societies there is a significant relationship between social capital and quality of life (sig = 0.000) and null hypothesis is rejected for both Delhi and Tehran. In addition, there is significant difference in impact of social capital on quality of life in Delhi and Tehran [F (2, 6598) = 11102.1, sig = 0.000]. Finally, the multiple regressions indicates that all five indicators of social capital are accepted as predictors of quality of life in Delhi, whereas in Tehran excluding communication, rest of the four indicators viz. view towards locality, social participation, social trust, and local solidarity are entered in the model as predictors of quality of life. In the model of Delhi social capital indicators are explaining 77% of variances in quality of life whereas in the model of Tehran 68% of the variances in quality of life scores is explained by social capital indicators.