Influence of Rural Social Capital and Production Mode on the Subjective Well-Being of Farmers and Herdsmen: Empirical Discovery on Farmers and Herdsmen in Inner Mongolia

Rural areas are crucial to the realization of sustainable development goals (SDGs). Rural social capital is indispensable for these areas to fulfil the SDGs. As China pursues rural revitalization, it is essential to achieve the sustainable development of rural areas within the agropastoral transition zone (APTZ) in northern China. The same applies to the SDGs’ realization in other APTZs across the globe. From the micro perspective of individual farmers and herdsmen, this article collected 732 microscopic datapoints through repeated rural surveys, and adopted the multivariate ordered probit model to empirically analyze how the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen in northern China’s APTZ was affected by the individual (person) and collective (community) layers of rural social capital. Specifically, the production mode was introduced to study the relationship between social capital and subjective well-being, and social capital was measured by a self-designed theoretical analysis framework, which covered six dimensions and two layers (person and community). It was verified that the individual social capital and collective social capital were mutually replaceable in terms of the effect on the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen. Additionally, this article examined the influence of different production modes on the social capital and subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen, and discussed how the same amount of social capital contributes differently to the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen under different production models. The results showed that: (1) Social capital significantly promoted the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen, and social network was the leading contributor among the dimensions of individual social capital, while social trust was the leading contributor among the dimensions of collective social capital. By the contribution to the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen, the six dimensions of social capital can be ranked as social network > social trust > social participation > social standard > social fame > common vision. (2) Individual social capital and collective social capital were mutually replaceable in terms of enhancing the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen; when the individual social capital was insufficient, the collective social capital would exert a much greater influence on the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen; when the individual social capital grows, the farmers and herdsmen would depend less on collective social capital. (3) The same amount of social capital contributes differently to the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen under different production models; by contribution strength, the production models can be ranked as pure herdsmen (PH) > pure farmers (PF) > non-farmers/herdsmen (NFH) > farmers + herdsmen (FH). Finally, several policy suggestions were provided to improve the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen in APTZ. The results show that collective social capital eliminates the negative effect of individual social capital shortage on the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen. Thus, it is suggested to consider not only the construction of macroscopic hardware environment, but also to roll out policies and measures to improve the subjective well-being from the micro perspective of farmers and herdsmen. These suggestions are concentrated on the implementation of China’s rural revitalization strategy, and the creation of relevant institutions and cultural environments, as well as the optimization of the internal hierarchy of farmers and herdsmen’s social capital. The research results may help to promote the subjective well-being of farmers and herdsmen in rural areas within the APTZs of China and the world, and provide a reference and a path to realize SDGs in China and similar places across the globe.