analysis of social capital in rural women members and non-members of the cooperatives; the case of central district of choram county

cooperatives can be considered as suitable means to achieve social and economic development, employment and participation. undoubtedly, rural women's membership in cooperatives can be really useful in the process of rural development. social capital is one of the key determinants of women's participation in different social activities. social capital may act directly through physical investment or indirectly through reducing transactions costs, satisfying people and making social action. both of these functions can move rural societies towards development. thus, the aim of this study was to investigate social capital components determinant for women membership in production cooperatives of choram county. a descriptive- correlational research method was used in this study. research sample include all of women members of rural cooperatives of choram county and the same number of non- members. research tool was a predesigned questionnaire that it's validity was verified using face validity procedure and it's reliability way also verified using cronbach's alpha coefficient obtained from a pilot study (from 0.65 to 0.89). the results showed that the mean score of social capital was significantly more in members in comparison to non- members. also, the result of logistic regression showed that five components i.e. interaction, trust, cooperation, solidarity and participation were significant determinants of women's membership in production cooperatives of study area respectively.