Internet and social capital in isolated villages in Chile

Abstract

The article discusses the relationship between social capital, internet and geography. We worked with a case study methodology on six locations in Chile with isolation characteristics, from two regions (Aysén and the Metropolitana Region). Through presential survey, we interviewed 800 cases. The main results positioned Internet as an efficient means (cost and time) to generate (by relationships of the type of bridging social capital), or maintain social capital (aiming to bonding social capital type relationships), independent of the degree of isolation in which the people inhabit. However, it is observed that the type of resource that can be accessed through networks and co-presentiality expectations remain constrained by geographical distance. The geographic influence is manifested most powerfully considering the perambulation that people must make on a daily basis outside their communities: increased displacement, greater heterogeneity of contacts on personal social networks.