URBAN STUDIES
Year:2019 | Volume:9 | Issue:29 |Papers Count:7

Nowadays, participation in the democratic and civil society has been institutionalized and development theorists consider political participation of the masses of people as one of the aspects of political modernization. The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between political participation and social alienation among residents of Tabriz city. The concept of social alienation has been used by sociologists and social psychologists in order to assess the pathological features of political participation and to explain the passivity and political apathy which is one of the issues of urban life and a consequence of urbanization. The question in this research is whether there is a relationship between political participation and social alienation among citizens of Tabriz. This is a survey research using questionnaire and the research population includes all the residents of Tabriz who were over 18 year old, of whom, using Cochran formula, 384 people were chosen through cluster random sampling method. The validity of the questionnaire was tested through formal validity and the reliability was based on Cronbach's alpha. To analyze the data, SPSS software and to test the hypotheses, Pearson correlation coefficient wese used. The results showed that there is no meaningful relationship between level of political participation and social alienation of citizens. Only two components (feeling of social isolation and feeling anomaly) among five social alienation components had meaningful relationship with political participation. Therefore, it can be concluded that political participation was not so much affected by social alienation.

One of the main concerns and social issues that has come to light with the advent of the modern age in the human society and has attracted the attention of many researchers in the field of social sciences is the concern for the decline of social relations and the disturbing weakening of the social links, as well as the reduction of social solidarity. In this regard, the purpose of this study was to explore the lived experience of loneliness and its relation to life satisfaction among adult residents of Tehran city. This study utilized a survey method with descriptive-correlational approach and the research population of the study consisted of all mature citizens of Tehran metropolis. 524 of them were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling method. The information gathering tool is the diminished lonely adult-emotional loneliness (SELSA-S) and life satisfaction measurement (SWLS) scales. The results of data analysis showed that 30/6% of residents experienced moderate loneliness and 0/06% suffered from severe loneliness. Also, Tehran residents' satisfaction with their lives was moderate to high. Inferential findings also showed that residents are more satisfied with their lives than ever, their feelings of loneliness are reduced and vice versa. On the other hand, men and single people experienced more loneliness than women and married people. Other variables such as originality, ethnicity, housing status, socioeconomic status, level of education and age had no significant relationship with loneliness.

This article aims to be a sociological study of the elderly in Tehran and its degree of adaptation to urban life. The research population consists of all the elderly in Tehran. On the basis of Cochran formula, the sample size was 384 in the 2, 5, 6, 7 and 20 regions. Sampling was done by cluster and then by simple random sampling. This research was conducted using a survey method. The data gathering tool was a researcher-made questionnaire. The reliability of the questionnaire was obtained by Cronbach's alpha for all dimensions of the questionnaire, which were higher than 0. 7, threshold. The result of the hypothesis with t-test showed that there was a significant relationship between the quality of life and social capital in the human dimension, and in the structural dimension of housing situation, public space, and transportation with the degree of adaptation to urban life. According to regression and path analyses, the most and the strongest effect on the adaptation of the elderly to urban life, were quality of life variables (0. 331), social capital (0. 215), public places (201. 0), Quality of housing (0. 41) and transportation (0. 097), respectively.

The purpose of the present paper is to examine the sociological factors influencing hope for the future of slum dwellers of Tabriz based on structural equations modelling. Social factors like religiosity, social support, social capital and relative deprivation were considered as influencing factors. The method of this research is causal and the analysis of direction of relationships was done via structural equations. The research population consisted of all slum dwellers of Tabriz in 2017, of whom, on the basis of Cochran's formula 622 individuals were chosen through cluster sampling. Snyder’ s hope for future test, and researcher-made tests on religiosity based on Glarke and Stark’ s model, Bourdieu’ s social and cultural capital, Kub’ s social support, and Ted Robert Gurr’ s relative deprivation were used as research tools. The results showed that the average, respectively, of hope for the future was 39. 7, of religiosity, 43. 8, of relative deprivation, 25. 7, of social capital, 11. 2, of cultural capital, 10. 8, and of social support, 10. 2, which were assessed as high, medium, high, medium, medium and medium, respectively. The regression of the model represents that sociological factors such as social support (0. 23), cultural capital (0. 30), social capital (0. 38), religiosity (0. 20), relative deprivation (-0. 17), influence hope for the future of slum dwellers.

The present article aims to answer the question that whether there is relationship between social literacy and material consumption of economically well-off (rich kids) youth in the city of Tehran? In fact, the socio-economic issue of material consumption of well-to-do kids is connected to the sociological concept of social literacy. Social literacy with indices social life skills, social obligations and human values has been considered as the independent variable and material consumption as the dependent variable. The method is survey, the tool to collect data are questionnaire and interview, and the sampling method is accidental. The findings showed that there is a reverse and significant relationship between the material consumption and level of social literacy (-0. 63). the results of interviews with some respondents showed that these youths have certain lifestyles that are characterized by leisure, conspicuous consumption, exclusion of others, obsession with fashion, material approach to family. Also, based on the findings of the interviews, new indicators were introduced regarding social literacy variable, such as: Foresight, social belonging, protection of social values, social hope and family cohesion.

Social capital as an aspect of social structure with features like interpersonal relationships and trust and mutual assistance. There are many common interests in areas such as reducing crime, increasing sense of security, social resilience, risk management, personal health, as well as social and environmental health. The issue of urban health is pursued in a “ healthy city” approach. The realization of a healthy city without the active role of citizens (social capital) is not possible. The purpose of this research is to find out the effects of social capital on the realization of a healthy city in the port city of Mahshahr. The research method is descriptive-analytic. The research population consisted of all the residents of Mahshahr Port city of which, on the basis of Cochran formula, 384 individuals were chosen as the sample. Social capital indices included social participation, trust, social coherence, efficiency and effectiveness and social support. 13 indicators (preserving green space, separating waste, preventing waste drainage on roads, participating in health programs (vermin schemes), reporting environmental pollution to relevant organizations, preventing the establishment of unsafe places, collecting garbage at the appropriate time, emptying trash in the streams (reverse), throwing waste from cars to the street (reverse), planting trees, participating in community health and health centers, participating in beautifying and clearing the environment, reporting the presence of addicts in the neighborhood to relevant authorities) were used for “ healthy city” variable. The collected data were analyzed using one-sample t-test and regression. The results indicated that the indicators of social capital and healthy city in the port of Mahshahr were relatively weak. Also, regression results showed that the variable trust with a beta of 0. 608, followed by social solidarity (0. 473), participation (0. 472), effectiveness and efficiency (0. 390), and support with a beta of 0. 189 were significantly related to the variable of healthy city in Mahshahr port.

Nowadays, vandalism can be found in different forms. It contributes to economic losses and has unfortunate social consequences. Therefore, the aim of this research is to provide a model for the prevention of vandalism based on social marketing strategy using "Grounded Theory". Senior managers of appropriate organizations and academic experts and related documents were considered as the research population of the study. For this purpose, data was collected through 9 semi-structured interviews with experts and reviewing 12 documentaries. Then after open, axial, and selective coding, the model of vandalism prevention based on social marketing strategy was developed. According to the results, prevention of vandalism is possible through four social marketing strategies: idea making strategy (Emphasis on collective harm of vandalism), pricing strategy (Increasing cost of vandalism, both financial and social cost), promotion strategy (word of mouth) and the Public Participation Strategy. In addition to some macro conditions such as poor management of public places and legal caviats, other factors such as beliefs about low cost of vandalism and demographic factors also affect the above four strategies. As a result of the reduction of vandalism due to the correct implementation of these four strategies, besides preserving the natural and historical environment, psychological security and social capital can be expected to improve in society as well.