Abstract:

Despite decades of explanation in international academic fields, the concept of social capital is still an under-researched area in Iranian domestic fields. Therefore, it has become a controversial and multidimensional concept as each branch in the humanities, depending on their needs, have adopted and applied their own definition of the term social capital. Giving a functional explanation of the term, this research aims at evaluating the quantitative and qualitative situation of youth’s political socialization process. The focus of this research is on the relationship between the concepts of ‘social capital,’ ‘socialization’ and ‘political affairs.’ For the case study, this research focuses on university as a government institution developing political socialization in the political system of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Specifically, the research tries to explore the effects of social capital on political socialization process of undergraduate students in public universities in the city of Tehran. The hypothesis of this research is that the higher the level of social capital in public universities in Tehran, the more successful the universities are in realizing the political socialization function of their undergraduate students. Eventually, this study will investigate effective contexts in the process of political socialization as one of the most focal effective areas on the survival of a political system and will highlight the political functions of social capital. Keywords: Social Capital, Political Socialization, Undergraduate Students, Trust, Norms, Social Networks.

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