Social Capital of Seven Countries/Areas in East Asia: From the Quetionnaire Approach

The Center for Social Capital Studies of Senshu University, Japan, chaired by Professor Hiroo Harada, have made the questionnaire research about ‘social capital’ both in rural and urban areas of seven countries/areas; Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, South Korea, China, Taiwan, and Thailand, and at Shinjuku Ward and Kawasaki City in Japan, from 2010 to 2013.   In this report we will focus on the research of seven countries/areas.

   The hypothesis is that ‘social capital’ might differ from the degree of economic development and urbanization.  We define ‘social capital’ as the index of four components; social trust, maintaining and improving livelihood, risk and social safety-net, and social rituals, consisting of 56 questions and 18 items of face sheet.

   We are quantitatively examining the outputs so that we have not reached the final result and conclusion, but ‘social capital’ differs in urban and rural areas, families, communities, and so on.  This may also suggest that ‘social capital’ differs with the economic development, market capitalism and globalization in prevailing at the present age.  We also focus the examinations on the history of the families, communities and countries/areas.  These would be the qualitative analysis.

   We have to carefully treat the outcome of the questionnaire, because the degree of ‘social capital’ does not imply the superiority or inferiority, nor the positive or negative.  The difference of ‘social capital’ just declares the type of social relationship and evaluation in the society of community conditioned by the history and geography.  Therefore the policy implications would be differently induced.