Social Capital Formation among Turkish Women

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to identify Turkish women’s social capital formation. This study consisted of 170 women with low SES residing closer to shantytowns. The authors performed the Logistic regression analysis to examine the social capital formation (civic engagement, trust, social participation, and social networks) of women in terms of six variables (age, educational level, employment and marital status, homeownership, community centers, and the length of stay in the same neighborhood) in four different community centers in Ankara, Turkey. Logistic regression results suggest that the length of stay in the same neighborhood was associated both with staying in touch with neighbors (social networks) and trust in municipal service provision (trust), and women’s educational level was associated with voting (civic engagement) and the utilization of municipal services (social participation). Further research should be conducted by comparing men’s and women’s social capital creation by adding other variables.