THE SOCIAL CAPITAL IMPLEMENTATION AbILITy Of bAN bANG PHRAI COMMUNITy, bANGKHONTHI DISTRICT, SAMUT SONGKRAM PROVINCE

Abstract

The objectives of this study were 1) to study the situation of social capital in the community, 2) to study the social capital implementation in community, and 3) to study problems and obstacles in the social capital implementation in community. This study was based on the qualitative research approach. 15 in-depth interviews with the informants were conducted and verified by the triangulation technique. The data were analyzed by the category classification approach and inquired into the content consistency by the logic correlation with the theoretical concept and community context. The study was found out that the most outstanding social capital of Bang Phrai community was the “strong social network” proved by many awards granted while the second one was “knowledge and wisdom” specifically the livelihood. The third social capital was “kindness, reciprocity, generosity, and helpfulness” which had been existed since former time. The social capital was applied in three levels: implementation on individual and family level, implementation on group or occupational or business network level, implementation on the whole social development network. Regarding the problems on social capital implementation, there were the problems of conflict of interest and discrimination, the lack of social worker, the insecurity from the outsider. To achieve desirable correlation and condition of the community, the execution process should be conducted. First of all, the realization on people of the community towards the community development should be created while prospecting the potentiality and social capital of the community. Then, the leader or the pillar of the community should be more created. The corporation from government and private sectors, the conjoint implementation between the whole communities itself and the government and private sectors, the consecutive evaluation and the extension of the study should be performed as well.