Social Capital and Political Participation: A Case Study from Rural Bangladesh

Social capital supports toward participating in political activities in democratic countries. This study tries to examine the relation between social capital and political participation in Bangladesh. A cross-sectional study was conducted in Sylhet Sadar Upazila (sub-district) of north-eastern Bangladesh. A total of 100 respondents - who are above 23 years of age - were selected by using systematic random sampling technique for a face-to-face interview. Chi-square test and Fisher Exact test were applied to measure the association between social capital dimensions and political participation. The results show that social networks, civic participation, norms of reciprocity and social trusts are significantly associated with political participation in Bangladesh. This result suggests that social capital may have an effect towards an increment of a political participation in Bangladesh.