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Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science

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ArticleOpen Access http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2026.09.013

Downsizing of Social Capital in Traditional Communities: An Inquisitive Approach

Mohammed Mamun Rashid

Department of Media Studies and Journalism, University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB), Dhaka 1207, Bangladesh.

*Corresponding author: Mohammed Mamun Rashid

Published: September 18, 2026

Abstract

The author has begun to focus on various factors that affect aspects of social relationships and elements such as cooperation, trust, engagement, kinship, and leadership—often referred to as social capital. This paper traces the changing trajectory of social capital in traditional Hindu fisherfolk of Bangladesh in particular. A technique of qualitative method, hereby Focus Group Discussion (FGD), with 7 males and 7 females, was adapted as a primary data collection tool. This study revealed that the lives and livelihoods of Jaladas (slaves of water) have improved in the realms of awareness, education, health, leadership, bargaining power, and sub-standard living conditions in one village (North Salimpur Fishing Village) due to donor-led investments. However, the effectiveness of social capital, herein, cooperation, traditional social institutions, ethnic values, observance of religious rituals pattern, kinship, mutual trust, caste identity, and community belongings have downsized in the aforesaid village. People of the other study village are still fostering elements of social capital, especially to be united for protecting their communal and social matters.

Keyword

Social capital; external investments; Jaladas; traditions; wellbeing

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This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) license, which permits non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited and is not modified or adapted.
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How to cite this paper

Downsizing of Social Capital in Traditional Communities: An Inquisitive Approach

How to cite this paper: Mohammed Mamun Rashid. (2026) Downsizing of Social Capital in Traditional Communities: An Inquisitive Approach. Journal of Humanities, Arts and Social Science, 10(9), 1116-1128.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.26855/jhass.2026.09.013