Perspective of Social Capital into Poverty Level of the Community, Case Study Bumiaji District, Batu City, Indonesia

Abstract

Some empirical research says that social factors can be dealing with poverty. So aims of the research are to measure i) poverty level, and ii) social capital in order to have an appropriate understanding of the perspective of social capital into poverty level of the community. This research study is conducted in Bumiaji District consist of 9 villages with number of sample at about 275 households divided proportionately between poor and nonpoor households. Poverty values of the region are calculated with Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI) covering three dimensions (health, education and living standard). The result indicates that the whole villages have a very low classification of the MPI. However, the dimension of education and living standard give significant contribution of deprivation toward the MPI. The measurement of social capital through affiliation data of the respondents' membership into the existing institutions covering three indexes-rate of participation, density, and centrality. The general result illustrates that each village has good social capital (high and medium level) indicated by value of participation rate and density, and a close network among the members of community within the village (high-low-high degree-betweenness-closeness centrality's pattern). The high social relations of the community also indicates that there is no central actor who stands out in the activity because of between communities there is a close relationship between the community members. In conclusion, it could be seen that a community with good social capital might have ability to deal with poverty problems. Social capital is no longer only seen from how many institutions exist in society but rather emphasizes the glue that binds the community together for developing better access to information and resources.