社會資本의 地域社會參與에 關한 硏究

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship of the revitalization of community participation to social capital and the ways toward the development of social capital as a means of revitalizing community participation. It's basically meant to investigate the function of social capital as a way of boosting the collective action and active participation of local residents in the resolution of social problems, since the spontaneous participation of local residents and the key roles of a civic society are increasingly emphasized. The following efforts were made to serve the purpose of the study: First, the state of the formation of social capital in Korean local communities and the level of community participation were analyzed to look for any regional gaps in those regards. Second, the awareness of local residents on networking, trust and normatism were investigated. Third, the correlation of the social capital of local governments to their community participation was checked. As a result of testing Hypothesis 1 on the demographic characteristics of the subjects and the formation of social capital, the following findings were given: First, the men placed more significance on networking as social capital than the women, and networking was more prevailing in the former than the latter. Second, the younger people put less confidence in networking as social capital. Third, networking as social capital was more widespread among the better-educated people. Fourth, there was more social capital in the families that were well off. As a result of testing Hypothesis 2 on the demographic characteristics of the respondents and community participation, the following findings were given: First, concerning political participation and participation in volunteering, the men were more involved in politics, and the women did more volunteer work. Second, community participation was more prevailing among the older people who were in their 50s and 60s or up, and that was prevailing the least among the younger generations who were in their 20s and 30s. Third, community participation was more widespread among the families that had a larger average income. Fourth, community participation was more rampant among those whose residential conditions were better. As a result of testing Hypothesis 3 on social capital and the revitalization of community participation, the following findings were given: First, political participation that was linked to the revitalization of community participation was under the influence of human network. Second, the networking factor, one of the social capital variables, had an impact on vertical participation in local organizations. Third, all the three variables of social capital that were norms, trust and networking exercised a positive influence on volunteering participation. Fourth, as the findings on social capital and community participation suggest, more extensive and aggressive efforts should be made to generate plenty of social capital to bolster community participation. The findings of the study illustrated that out of the components of social capital, the norm factor and networking factor had a significant impact on community participation, which was the dependent variable. So the government should take appropriate measures to boost people's community participation. Finally, there are some suggestions on this issue: First, it's required to make efforts to gain the confidence of the younger generations. According to this study, the younger people didn't put confidence in the nation, the government and local governments. The political circles and government should try to communicate with the younger generations in diverse ways in order to understand and get closer to them to gain their confidence as social capital. Second, political measures should be taken to narrow the gap in social capital triggered by economic standing. In this study, the families that were well off took a better view of social capital. It denotes that the formation of social capital depended on economic status. Putnam defined social capital as facilitating cooperation in pursuit of mutual interest, but if the formation of social capital hinges on economic standing, the rich will benefit better from their own advantageous social capital thanks to their wealth, and the low-income classes will benefit less from their disadvantageous social capital. So the government should try to narrow the gap in social capital. Third, the gender-specific gap in community participation should be narrowed as well. As discussed above, the men were far more involved in politics than the women, and the women took more part in volunteer work. Although it's said that women play more roles as working people in modern society, men still take the initiative, and the government should take actions to attain gender equity. Fourth, the community participation of the younger generations should be encouraged. In this study, the younger generations who have to take the lead in community participation fell behind the most in that regard. The government should push ahead with appropriate policies to urge their community participation. Fifth, a wide variety of online and offline communities should be generated and aided to boost community participation. Sixth, political measures should be taken to boost volunteer work to step up the development of local communities. In modern society, volunteer work is mandatory for the achievement of the ultimate goal of social welfare, and it's almost impossible for the government to take care of all the disadvantage people. In this study, the networking element, one of the components of social capital, had a positive impact on volunteer work. Therefore the government should try to create various kinds of volunteering networks to further people's interaction and volunteer work. Finally, what matters the most is that individual citizens should change their way of looking at community participation. A change of mind-set is more crucial than a huge budget or the best policy setting. Indirect democracy that people's community participation is fulfilled through their elected representatives is not the only and best way to expedite the development of democracy and local development. The masters of a region are citizens. Individual local residents should keep in mind that they are the masters of their region, and that local development is their own development, and they should take active part in their local communities, which will be a short cut to the genuine development of local communities.