Social capital and regional development: impacts on a riverside community affected by the construction of a hydroelectric plant

Abstract

The Amazon's water potential encourages the construction of hydroelectric plants, maximizing concerns about the socioeconomic and cultural consequences on traditional communities. It is in this scenario that the Vila Nova de Teotônio community is located, created to resettle riverside people affected by the Santo Antônio Hydroelectric Plant, built on the bed of the Madeira River, Porto Velho/RO. Thus, the research carried out aimed to analyze how this megaproject impacted on the social capital of the referred community. To this end, a cross-sectional survey was applied to resettled families, using an adaptation of the Integrated Questionnaire to Measure Social Capital for data collection. The results point to losses in terms of obtaining income on the part of families, but their perception of happiness about work has not changed. It was also found that the performance of collective and collaborative actions has become incipient, as well as the weakening of trust relationships among community members.

Keywords: Planning and Regional Development. Social Capital. Compulsory Displacement. Riverside.