Social capital and resilience in rural areas: responses to change

In this paper we give an overview of the leading thoughts in current literature concerning social capital and its effects on rural resilience. Studying social resilience of rural areas is relevant in the emergence of global change. We demonstrate that social capital can either contribute to social resilience, or restrict it, depending on the nature of social capital. As the “restrictive” type of social capital generally prevails in rural areas, social resilience tends to be weaker here, than in urban areas. However, the nature of rural areas is changing, and the contrast in social capital in rural and urban areas is gradually fading out