Social capital formation of the urban community contributes to the compactness of living, involvement in a variety of activities, the diversity of emerging problems and the possibility of their joint solutions. The purpose for the study is to study the social capital of urban communities of two major cities of the Vologda oblast – Vologda and Cherepovets – and identify their common and distinctive features. The theoretical framework of analysis lies in the concept of social capital, which demonstrated the role and importance of social relations for growth and development. Further expansion of the concept’s problems caused interest in specific environments of its formation, including the city. The empirical framework of the study includes the results of a public opinion survey in the mentioned cities conducted by the experts of the Russian Academy of Sciences in June, 2017. The hypothesis of the study is that cultural, economic, and social differences affect the state of structural characteristics of social capital, particularly trust, which in turn affects the relations of solidarity and the level of responsibility for the state of affairs in the city. Characteristics of social capital such as the level of interpersonal and institutional trust, involvement in social and political life, readiness to unite with others were analyzed. It is noted that the state of the main indicators of social capital in cities varies. Analysis of specific features of its manifestation can provide information on the reasons for the existing differences in population’s perception of government bodies, possibilities of their interaction, as well as information for making reasonable management decisions to avoid conflicts between the authorities and the population, creating conditions for strengthening their interaction
Keywords
social capital, trust, social space, solidarity, urban community, territorial features, responsibility