Iranian Journal of Sociology
Year:2010 | Volume:11 | Issue:2|Papers Count:8

Models and developmental ideas have been disseminated widely around the world and they have become important element for ideational and behavioural change. Pattern of marriage in Iran not only become influenced by internal elements such as modernization, urban living, geographic mobility, high levels of education and knowledge but also it has been changed through external elements such as developmental idealism from structural and functional point of view and gradually it becomes similar to modern pattern of marriage in industrial societies. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of cultural and basic variables on pattern of marriage. This is a survey-method research and has been carried out using questionnaire on 400 people between 17-50 years of age. The findings of this study indicate that with the increase of developmental idealism, pattern of marriage becomes more modern, and that there is also significant relationship between gender, age, income, ownership, education, value priorities, the use of mass media and pattern of marriage. Moreover the results show that only gender, age, income, developmental idealism, value priorities and the use of mass media entered in multivariable regression equation, and these variables could explain 73 percent of dependent variables variance. Gender had highest direct and total effect on pattern of marriage.

Both in developed and developing countries ethnic identity has turned into a global problem today. Ethnic identity is only one of the several identities which has important role in defining and redefining the individual. Employing Giddens's theory of lifestyle and identity this research attempts to examine and explain the individuals' ethnic identity as seen in their life styles. Statistical population of the research includes young people between 18 to 30 years of age who have Kurdish ethnic identity in the city of Mahabad. Sampling process was conducted through multistage cluster sampling method with the volume of 300 persons. The survey data was collected through the questionnaire and analyzed by the SPSS software. The results show that there is a meaningful relationship between lifestyle and ethnic identity in that the more modern lifestyle in a society, the less ethnic identity individuals tend to hold. In addition, there is a meaningful relationship between educational and socio-economic status with ethnic identity, while, there is no relationship with other background variables such as age and gender.

Participation provides conditions in which all citizens regardless of their ethnic affiliations, personal beliefs, or interests can affect all social phenomena in proportion to their degree of skills and mental capacities. One important aspect of participation is political participation.Establishing a democratic system requires an appropriate social and cultural basis. Hence the scientific study of these fields can also pave the way for achieving democracy. Such a study aims at identifying and introducing appropriate patterns of political participation for the social system in the country. Actions, communications and the levels of political participation of individuals in any society are largely influenced by their social and economic differences. Hence this research attempts to answer such vital question, to see if there is any significant relationship between the research variables: social and economic status and the kind of attitudes toward the political participation. The research type is quantitative and methodology of the study is sample survey. The dependent variable is political participation which is measured at six levels: level of party and electoral activity, contact with authorities, sending messages to the officials, action to solve problems, protest action, and ballot action. The independent variable is social and economic status that has been calculated with three indicators: literacy level, income, and occupational status. The questionnaire was the main tool for data gathering in measuring attitudes toward political participation within statistical society of the research. The statistical society contains all individuals 18 years of age and older which live in the city of Khorramabad. The volume of the statistical sample was 384. Sampling method was determined to be random.The study showed that in the city of Khorramabad there is a significant relationship between social and economic status of the people and their attitude toward political participation. The research findings showed that people with low status, opposed political participation more strongly.

Social capital as a key factor in the different dimensions of community development is the Subject of this research. Social capital is so important that has influence, from different aspects, on growth and development processes of a society. Considering recent world developments (especially at the level of the Middle East region) and with regard to applying different pressure on the country from foreign governments, which are in line with hostile instances and their exceeding goals, the discussion of maintaining and preserving the borders of the country in contrast to these pressures can be considered as a decisive subject. According to this topic, the issue that this research studies in the first dimension is based on the jacob's theory in that it preserves and enhances the quality of life in one place. In doing this, the social capital factor plays a role more important than that of formal institutions (forces and police protection). According to this idea and in the second dimension, with the assumption of high social capital in rural areas than urban centers, the inappropriate thought of growth of urban areas with the cost of villages being evacuated is considered in the border areas that will be incompatible with the geopolitical needs. As a result, according to this dimension in this study, the concept of social as a factor dicisive in line with policy maker fate with as emphasis on maintaining and preserving the boundaries is assumed and this is the most important research goal. For achieving research objectives and to study the social capital situation we selected the urban and rural centers, located at the Urmia Township level (as a sensitive border point in the northwest of the country) for studying and making comparison. Research methodology in this study is descriptive analysis based on documents and library information and field research using the questionnaire. The statistical software of the spss and Geographic information System (ARC GIS) were applied for analysis of information and presentation of analytical maps.The statistical population of this research includes three of Urmia neighborhoods and three village points located in rural district of Margvar under the functions of the Urmia Township. The two factors of being border area and also income differences were the most important factors in choosing these points. The sample size of the research has been 180 people that 90 questionnaires were distributed at the neighborhoods level (each neighborhood 30 questionnaires) and 90 questionnaires at the villages level (each village 30 questionnaires). After collecting and analyzing statistics obtained, in connection with various aspects of social capital concept, research results show that the amount of social capital in its different dimensions, in village level centers is more than urban centers. This situation can be considered as a potential in level of rural centers and be effective in process border policy.

Value orientation is a symbol of thought foundation in each society. This study, investigate the socio-economic factors influence on the universalistic value orientation of Yasouj residents. The main aim of this study is the recognition of the degree of universalistic orientation in the mentioned society, and factors affecting such orientation. This study has been conducted via survey method and the questionnaire technique. The statistical society is people 15 years of age and older residing in Yasouj. The sample size was determined based on the Lin sampling formula, and 385 cases were selected and interviewed. The data were analyzed via SPSS software. The analysis showed that there is significant relationship between universalistic orientation (dependent variable) and education level, father education, mother education, socio-economic status (independent variables). There is negative relationship between age and universalistic orientation. Among the mass media, only the use of the internet had negative relationship with universalistic orientation. The other independent variables (such as social trust, gender, job situation, marital situation and income) had not significant relationship with universalistic orientation. Regression test showed that independent variables, totally, had (r=0.353) correlation with dependent variable.

The paper aims to study the relationship between conforming to social norms and job satisfaction of the teachers working in the city of Mashhad. Social norms are regulations and expectations that guide behavior of the members of a society. The act of observing social norms results in an increased rate of social support, cooperation and participation in common activities and paves the way toward achieving the organizational goals, which in turn results in job satisfaction of the members. This is a cross-sectional survey-method research. The sample size, in accordance with Cochran formula, is 298 teachers, and sampling technique is proportional classification. The data was collected by the standard job satisfaction questionnaire (Brayfild & Rothe) that measured validity via content validity technique. The reliability was measured by chronbach's alpha. The findings showed that the median for scores of social norms observance was 70.5 and for job satisfaction it was 68.54. The variable of marriage, teaching level, social norms and also its dimensions had meaningful relationships with jobs satisfaction. There were not found any meaningful relationships between the variables of sex, age and the level of education with job satisfaction. The regression analysis showed that the variables of work background, sex, common action, the sense of efficiency and life value, explained 18 percent of job satisfaction variation.