Social capital of the Russian region: state and dynamics

Social capital is the basic characteristic of the system of social relations arising in a territorial community. In the context of ongoing global transformations, manifested both on a national scale and at the regional level, there is a need to analyze the changing social reality. We consider the concept of social capital as a promising explanatory model in the analysis of ongoing social changes. Based on this theoretical approach, the goal was set to analyze the state and dynamics of the social capital of the territorial community. The object of the study is the territorial community of the Vologda Oblast, the subject is the state and dynamics of social capital. The novelty of the work consists in obtaining analytical data by conducting a unique long-term observation, which has become, in fact, monitoring. The study used the author’s methodology for determining the level of accumulated social capital based on its integral index calculated for each respondent, which allows us to identify groups of its carriers characterized by different amounts of social resources that can serve as a factor of noneconomic development. The empirical basis of the study is the results of public opinion polls conducted in 2016, 2019, 2020 and 2021 among the population of the Vologda Oblast on a multi-stage, quota-based settlement and demographic characteristics, a random sample at the stage of selecting respondents. In the course of the study, fairly stable groups were identified that maintain their boundaries throughout the observation period. The changes in the social capital index recorded during the observation period serve as an indicator of its dynamism. The influence of environmental factors, for example, the pandemic, which affected the loss of social capital, was revealed. The analysis showed that various local communities differed both in the volume of losses and in the ability to restore social ties. The least losses and faster recovery were observed in rural areas. The results of the study can be used in the activities of federal, regional public authorities, local governments, scientific and educational organizations in the analysis of social processes in regional territorial communities, as well as serve as a basis for further research on the subject under consideration.